


Beneath the Masks of Those in the Spotlight

by Splannin



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - High School, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Arisato Twins, Drugs, F/F, F/M, Gang Violence, M/M, No spoilers to P3 & P4, References to Abuse, References to Starvation, References to the original games, SPOILERS FOR P5, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2019-06-27 17:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15690213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Splannin/pseuds/Splannin
Summary: A popular teen clique attending Gekkoukan High School seems to be getting into more trouble than any normal teen should. The school's newspaper club intends to find out the secrets of their popularity, and the members themselves. While local college students are doing their own investigation about the crimes occurring in their friend's city but also attempt to keep these kids from getting arrested by the police and themselves in the process.





	1. We Need a Story

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first fanfic. If you enjoyed those please leaves kudos and comments. If you have any advice for my writing please tell me! Also if you spot any typos please tell me, I wrote this all on my phone so there's bound to be mistakes.

**6/3/17, 3:25 pm**  
  
The newspaper club is currently sitting at a booth inside Wild Duck Burger. Their club leader had texted them all to meet up at the fast food restaurant on their day off. Everyone's food had already been eaten, with the exception of Chie, Teddie, and Kanji, whose extra food had just arrived while waiting.  
  
“He's late, where is he?”

Yosuke yawns and leans back into his seat while Chie, Teddie, and Kanji scarf down their burgers and fries. Everyone else, in the meantime, looks around for their missing leader, aside from Rise, who’s looking for Naoto.  
  
“I'm sure he'll be here soon. Yu-kun isn't the type to leave us waiting for this long. We were scheduled to meet here at 3 o'clock, right?”

Yukiko looks to her friends for confirmation and sees them all nod in agreement.  
  
“Naoto-kun isn't here either… She's the last one who'd want to be late,” Rise mentions. She starts pouting, bothered that no one seemed to worry about Naoto other than herself.  
  
Rise turns her attention to the front doors of the restaurant and notices that Yu had just walked in with a stack of papers being carried in one of his arms. She sees him scan the inside of the restaurant for his friends until he sees them seated at one of the back booths that's near the restrooms.  
  
“Sorry I'm late,” he says breathily as he approaches the table.

For the many years Rise has known Yu, she's noticed that he dresses up very well every time he's been out. Today was not one of those days. His outfit looks like Chie dressed up a Ken doll and then sent it through the middle and ending of Toy Story 3 to enact revenge on him for breaking one of her kung-fu movies

Rise inspects Yu’s ‘outfit’ a bit closer. He's wearing a light blue button up instead of his normal white t-shirt. The blue button up is wrinkled with multiple dirt stains on it and it seems to have more buttons undone than what Yu would normally do. His khaki shorts, which he never wears had also seemed to have suffered a similar fate, with the wonderful addition of grass stains and what seemed to be claw and bite marks. Yu’s bowl cut hair, that was otherwise always straight and pristine, has hairs sticking out in multiple directions as if it went through a meat grinder that had malfunctioned. No one points out his current state because they are either trying too hard not to laugh or are gaping with their mouths open like fish; Rise being part of the first category.  
  
“I had to help Nanako with some of her homework and she asked me to play with her after. I lost track of time and tried to get ready as fast as I could...” He straightens out his hair and buttons up his shirt as if he didn't notice that he looked like he went through a natural disaster. “...and I ran all the way here… with complications. Anyways, I want you guys to read this.”  
  
Rise concludes that whatever had happened to him was going to be a story for another day. Yu drops the stack of papers that he was holding on top of the table.  
  
“What's this?” Yosuke looks at the stack of papers in front of him and his still awestruck friends. The papers were separated into seven files; each had writing on the front that was written in marker.  
  
“Our next scoop for the newspaper club,” Yu says in his normal optimistic voice. “Naoto and I did some research on the Phantom Thieves in their first years of high school and their third year of middle school.”

His statement snaps everyone else out of their disoriented states and they respond with confused and lost expressions.

  
“Wait, the Phantom Thieves? Aren't they like super popular or something? If we write anything on them, we'll be chewed out by their fans!” Chie wails exasperatedly.

Yukiko adds to her friend’s statement, “Not to mention one of them is the Student Council President. It's almost guaranteed that she'll confront us about any article we publish about them.”  
  
Kanji glances to his other companions as he flips through the files along with them. “Isn't anyone creeped out on how they foun’ out about this stuff?” 

Rise made no response, as she was too preoccupied with the files in front of her and was still wondering where Naoto was.

“Why does anyone care about these Phantom Thieves, when they could just get a smooch from me!? And Sensei’s pretty smokin’ hot, why don't the ladies chase after him instead? We could write something about that.”

Teddie waves around a file wildly, hitting Yosuke with it multiple times. Whether it was on purpose or by accident didn't matter because the file was taken away from him by the person Rise was looking for.  
  
Naoto puts the file under her arm and tips her hat down slightly as a greeting to her friends. “I apologize for being late. I had to take a phone call from my grandfather. I hope I didn't miss anything of importance.”  
  
“You didn't miss much,” Rise answers. “But what's with these codenames? Did you come up with them, Senpai? They're very creative,” Rise asks in her usual flirty tone and flutters her eyes in his direction.  
  
“Actually, Naoto came up with them herself and she wrote all the reports. I just helped find information,” Yu answers. He looks to his right at his shorter friend, only to see Naoto glare at him.  
  
The menacing energy diminishes when she feels everyone’s eyes focused on her. Naoto quickly covers her face with her signature hat, but the blush forming on her face is very much visible. Naoto glances up slightly and sees Rise looking at her inquisitively.

“Why yes, I did… I didn't want anyone to find out we were investigating them, so I came up with these codenames to hide that fact. Please don't use their actual names, it would ruin the entire point of having them.”  
  
“But why are we writing about them? Can't we just stick to the normal stuff? You know, like about the restaurants around town or the usual drama happening around school...” Chie says in a voice full of desperation.

Rise wonders why exactly she was so desperate to not do this. Maybe it was because Chie wasn't so good at this topic, or she really was afraid of the fangirls. Then again, it seemed like Chie wasn't so hot with the drama articles and didn't really like interviewing people at school anyways.  
  
“Maybe it is a good idea.” Yukiko perks up suddenly.

Rise sees an intense sparkle of determination shining in her eyes. “I mean, it would benefit the club and we'll be able to find out more about them. After all, for people so popular, not much is really known about them. The information in these files just seem to be basic information so it'd be nice to get to know them more. I bet everyone at school wants to know more.”  
  
Going along with this plan would gain them more popularity than they already have. It would also give them a chance to see who the Phantom Thieves really are. To Rise, the Phantom Thieves are just a pack of privileged kids who have nothing better to do with their time. Or, that's what they seem to her; who was she to judge people by looks? She's an idol, after all. That's basically her job: look pretty and act nice so people buy your merchandise.  
  
“Which is why we're investigating,” Naoto says. “What is the real reason behind their popularity? My research indicates that there must be something else behind it all.”  
  
“All right, I'm all pumped up! Let's do this... when do we start, Senpai?” Kanji puts the files that he’s holding down and waits for his upperclassmen to answer.  
  
Yu makes a wide smile. “That's the spirit, Kanji, but first, we need to check if all of us are in this together. Do any of you guys not want to do this? We can always do something else.”

Yu looks towards Rise, Chie, Teddie, and Yosuke for their answer.  
  
“Ugh, fine. If Yukiko’s going along with it, I might as well.”

Any hope of getting out of the situation had disappeared from Chie's eyes and were now just full of hunger as she resumed eating her burger. Rise felt a bit of pity for her, but at least Chie has Yukiko to help her.  
  
Yosuke sighs and crosses his arms. “Yeah, I guess it's fine. I trust you to make the right decisions, Partner; you aren't our leader for nothing.” Yosuke winks at Yu to add affirmation to his statement.  
  
Teddie dances around happily in his seat. “Same with me! As long as Sensei is there and I get to smooch some ladies, I'll be fine!”  
  
“Dude, that's not why we're doing this!”  
  
“C’mon Yosuke, you can't lie to me. I know you want to smooch those ladies also!”

Teddie taunts Yosuke even more by blowing a kiss to him.

Which is subsequently caught by Yosuke’s hand and slammed down into the table.  
  
While Teddie and Yosuke continue their charade, Naoto turns toward Rise. “What about you, Rise-san? Do you have any objections to this case?”

Rise pauses for a moment to compose herself, flustered over the sudden question.

“This isn't like your detective cases, this is a story for the club. Our club that we all agreed to start together.”  
  
“Indeed it is. But was that a yes or no?”  
  
“Of course it was a no, dummy. Now let's get you and Senpai some food while we're still here.

 

* * *

  
  
**Earlier that day, 3:17 pm**  
  
Minato Arisato, a college student, is currently walking his ‘kind-of’ dog, Koromaru. Minato had been spacing out for almost the entirety of the walk, only paying attention to Koromaru and, to some extent, his surroundings.  
  
His thoughts come to a quick close when Koromaru starts to growl. Minato looks in the direction Koromaru was growling and sees a cat being petted by a gray haired boy.  
  
“Uh oh,” Minato mumbles. Multiple incidents that Koromaru has had with cats flash through his head. All the ruined furniture, the torn clothes... it was a nightmare to get everything cleaned and repaired.  
  
Suddenly, he is being dragged by Koromaru. The dog starts to run towards the cat and bark. The gray haired boy looks in Minato’s direction and sees the dog. At first it was joy, then confusion, then terror.  
  
Normally, Minato would grab Koromaru before things escalated, but Koromaru somehow had extra strength today, so it was impossible to grab him. Koromaru gets free of the leash and goes full speed towards the cat.  
  
The teen grabs the cat and runs away, with Koromaru chasing after them both. Grabbing the cat and running away was a mistake. His friend Junpei would know. Never again would his friend make that mistake.  
  
Minato chases after Koromaru. Along the way, he almost accidentally high kicks a little girl, gets run over, and face plants into a woman's boobs. All experiences: not fun, except maybe the running over part; that seemed pretty cool in his book. When he finally caught up to them, the gray haired teen had the cat in his hair as his shorts was being chewed on by Koromaru.  
  
Conclusions that he's made within the few seconds of catching up to Koromaru: One, the cat had ruined the teenager's hair and by it climbing to his head, the buttons of his shirt became undone. Two, the state of the teenager's clothing suggests that he toppled over multiple times while being chased. The dirt and grass stains had proved that Koromaru was a threatening dog, at least to this guy.  
  
Truly a sight to behold, a teenager being afraid of a two year old shiba inu. Amusing as this is, Minato doesn’t want to be yelled at by a teenager when he'd just woken up about two hours ago. He has to act now or else Mitsuru would execute him for his lack of effort to defend a teenager from a puppy.  
  
Minato attempts to project this message in a very tired voice.

“Koromaru, down.”

Koromaru didn’t listen.

“Down, or else we won't take you on walks.”

Still isn’t listening. Looks like he's going to have to bring out Koromaru’s weakness.

“Get off him, or I'll tell Shinji what you did, and he won't cook for you anymore.”

Koromaru stops. His tail drops and he turns to him and pouts. Oh, now he pays attention. Once Koromaru calms down, the cat runs away.  
  
Minato turns his head to the teenager.

“Hey, kid.”

The teen looks around, surprised at the sudden voice talking to him. Minato isn't sure why, though. It's not like he's going to get arrested for almost failing to protect a cat.  
  
“Yes, sir?”  
  
“Ah… sorry for your clothes. Here.”

Minato reaches into his pocket for money but realizes he didn't bring his money with him. Great. Now he'll have to meet up with the teen later to compensate for his clothes being destroyed by a dog. Instead, he gets his phone out.  
  
“I don't understand.”

Of course he doesn't. No sane person would give away their phone after meeting them after three minutes.  
  
“Get your phone out. I'm going to give you my phone number so I can give you money for your clothes.”  
  
“Sir, you don't have to-”  
  
“Arisato.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“My name is Arisato, Minato Arisato. What's yours?”  
  
“Yu Narukami.”  
  
“Well then, Yu-san, I'm giving you money. I'd be chewed out by my Senpai if I didn’t, so I suggest you set a time and place for a meet-up.”  
  
“I- I'm going to assume that you're joking. But still, thank you for getting your dog off me.” Yu puts Minato’s contact information into his phone and gives it back to him. “I have to go, I need to meet up with my friends. It was nice meeting you.”  
  
“You too.” Minato mutters as Yu walks off.  
  
Minato looks back at Koromaru.

“I'm still going to have to tell Shinji.”

Koromaru starts whimpering.


	2. Meet the Thieves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stars of the school are here and the Investigation Team is discussing how to tackle their new story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gods, this chapter is long. It's twice as long as the last one. I'm going to try to update on the weekends in the future. Also, if you reread the first chapter, there's a lot of edits I made. It's a lot better now.

The Phantom Thieves steal the hearts of many students who attend Gekkoukan High School. Granted, with the Student Council President and one of the top students in their ranks it was guaranteed. Not only that, each member has talent that attracts the attention of the school so easily. They're the icons of the school so to speak.

 

* * *

  

**File #1, Codename: Joker**

 

Akira Kurusu, a second year that has curly, black hair, wears fake glasses, and is seen to carry a cat in his school bag. Kurusu earns exceptional grades and is at the top of his class. He's an enigma, no places he's supposedly been that raise suspicion and no mentions of family. Kurusu is the most popular out of the Thieves because of his grades, looks, and flirtatious attitude. He is seen to be the leader of the Thieves.

 

**File #2, Codename: Skull**

 

Ryuji Sakamoto, a second year that has bleached blond hair and wears a neon yellow shirt with his uniform. Sakamoto has shown to earn decent grades but is seen to be asleep during class.Sakamoto used to be the ace of the track team until the previous PE teacher, Suguru Kamoshida had disbanded the team. The reason for disbandment is unknown but it coincidentally aligns with the time Sakamoto had broken his leg. Sakamoto seems to be the least popular out of the Phantom Thieves because of his hot-headed behavior, that has shown to drive people away from him. However, he still has some popularity because of his athletic history. 

 

**File #3, Codename: Panther**

 

Ann Takamaki, a second year that attends the same class as Akira Kurusu. Takamaki has natural blonde hair and blue eyes that used to be the cause of her being bullied in middle school. Takamaki earns decent grades but has been sighted to be on her phone during class. She is bestfriends with Shiho Suzui and works part-time as a model. She had been rumored to have a sexual relationship with Kamoshida until he had been arrested and confessed that he had been abusing his students in the volleyball club and had no sexual relations to her. Her current popularity is due to her career as a model. 

 

**File #4, Codename: Fox**

 

Yusuke Kitagawa, second year that attends the same class as Ryuji Sakamoto. Kitagawa is very tall and slim, and has dark blue hair. Kitagawa is a very talented artist and is the pupil of Ichiryusai Madarame. Recently, he has had some decline in health, the reason why is unknown. He's shown to be very popular for his looks but not so much for his talent. Although, there have been occurrences of people requesting art from him, to which he seems to accept reluctantly, why he does is a mystery.

 

**File #5, Codename: Queen**

 

Makoto Niijima, a third year and is the Student Council President. She has short, dark brown hair and red eyes. She obviously earns very considerable grades or else she would not be Student Council President for nothing. Niijima has been sighted around Shirakawa Boulevard and the alley behind Port Island Station, these supposed sightings have caused more rumors about her either being a prostitute or a member of the yakuza. Niijima’s popularity stems from her being the uptight and honest Student Council President. 

  

**File #6, Codename: Oracle**

 

Futaba Sakura, a first year that attends the same class as Kanji Tatsumi. Sakura has long orange hair, wears big round glasses, and is very small for her age. Sakura earns very exceptional grades, despite her being school famous for sleeping  class but still getting top marks. Sightings have shown that she doesn't talk to anyone unless they're the Thieves or an adult and has been reported to have an irregular attendance schedule. They've also shown that she walks home with Kurusu, the reasons why are unknown. Currently, there have been rumors circulating about the possible relations she would have with the leader to walk home with each other every single day. Sakura’s popularity comes from her quirky behavior and her grades.

 

**File #7, Codename: Noir**

 

Haru Okumura, a third year that is seen to tend to the plants in front of the school. Okumura has short, light brown, fluffy hair. Okumura earns satisfactory grades and has no rumored sightings near areas that are known for crime. However, there are rumors of her having a relationship with an older, well-dressed, orange haired man that seen to come around Gekkoukan High School to visit Okumura. Okumura’s popularity comes from her calm and nice behavior when tending to the plants and of course, her looks.

 

* * *

 

 **6/8/17, Class 2-2, 3:05**  

“So I still don't get it.” Yu stops packing his things to listen to Yusuke’s question. “Why are Pha-, I mean they. Why are they so popular?”

“That's what we're trying to find out,” Yu responds simply. He doesn't completely get it either. How could people with rumors surrounding them be so popular? Then again, Kamoshida was the king until he got arrested. Maybe in this case, rumors didn't matter as long as people love you for your talent. But this case is different, some of them had history with Kamoshida and if his memory is correct, Sakamoto, Takamaki, and Kurusu weren't doing well in the popularity department then. No one believes rumors, but Yu decides that he's going to find out about these rumors. 

“Where did you guys find out about those rumors anyway?” 

“Honestly, the people that said those things were mostly online or people at the back alley,” Yu admits. 

“The alley? That's super dangerous but, these rumors are serious. Who knows! Maybe Prez really is a- mmph!" Yu covers Yosuke’s mouth with his hand before he could say anymore. Yu couldn't piece everything together now. Yosuke’s questions only made him lose concentration and it had a high chance of blowing their cover. Although the Investigation Team was pretty popular, they were not on the same level as the Thieves. The day before, Yu had concluded that the popularity gap has most likely made Yosuke eager to investigate. Yu couldn't let Yosuke do anything rash, or they'll be trampled by the fangirls, or the Thieves themselves.

“We need to wait for the others before we actually talk about this. Okay?” Yosuke slowly nods and Yu finally takes his hand off of Yosuke’s mouth. 

“Dude that's gross!” Yosuke wipes his tongue and mouth with his sleeve and Yu just shrugs in response. “Ugh fine. We'll talk to the others. C'mon, let's go Partner.” Yosuke smiles and waves for Yu to follow him.

 

* * *

 

**Meanwhile, in class 2-3**

Ryuji slowly opens his eyes and lifts his face off of his desk. Class is over and he had fallen asleep way before it came close to that time. He sits up to straighten his back and stretches his arms. He yawns, enjoying the rare silence. Being a Phantom Thief meant that girls were surrounding you everyday. Most of the time they didn't surround Ryuji, they were after his friends. And more often than not, Ryuji was able to get them all out of those situations. He was proud of that, and he still had people who were fans of him as well so he could gloat about that also. Right now, everything seemed so peaceful and quiet.

“I hope you had a good nap. Now, must get going.” Ryuji’s yawn had turned into a yelp and he turns to his wake up call. Of course it was Yusuke, no one else could perfectly ruin a peaceful moment.

“Dude! Don't do that again. It's freaky, man. You cou’ be a ninja if you wanted to.” Ryuji stretches once more and begins to start gathering his things so that they can leave.

“Hmm, that would be an interesting experience. Maybe it'll bring me new inspiration.” Yusuke's eyes bright up at the thought of creating new art. A perfect path for his future, while Ryuji was still stuck in the rutter.

“Yeah, yeah, do whatever ya’ want. Jus’ make sure to eat, all right? Or Akira will be after your ass.” Ryuji waves his hand towards Yusuke once he finishes packing.

“Hmm, I wonder…” Yusuke puts his hand on his chin. Ryuji is not sure if he should be confused or disgusted. 

“Dude, no.” Ryuji puts his hand on Yusuke's and drags that hand away from Yusuke's chin to emphasize his point.

“What?” Yusuke looks genuinely confused. No wonder. It's not everyday you have a crush on the leader of the Phantom Thieves - oh wait. Half the school has a crush on Akira.

“Save your gay crush for later. We gotta meet up with everybody.” Ryuji lets go of Yusuke's hand and starts walking out of the classroom. 

“I do not have a crush, Ryuji. I am simply wondering what it means to ‘be after someone's ass’ and how would one go about it.” Oh, so that's it, okay. That made a little more sense than Ryuji's original assumption. Yusuke's never shown to be attracted to people, unless Ann counts or even lobsters. Wait, does that mean Ann is worth one lobster in beauty to Yusuke? Ryuji quickly shakes that thought away. He'll save that subject for another of his midnight crisis that'll lead him to ranting to Ann. 

“Ah, forget it. C'mon, or we’ll be late.” Ryuji heads out of the classroom, with Yusuke tailing right behind him.

 

* * *

  

**6/8/17, Tatsumi University, 3:15 pm**

“So you're saying that Koromaru chased after a cat and harassed a teenager in the process?” Minato nods to confirm Yukari's statement. 

Classes were over and Minato and Yukari were packing their bags to leave school to head back to the dorms. Minato had told Yukari about the incident about yesterday, which in hindsight sounded ridiculous. Yukari remembers Minato being a very athletic person, then again, he is very lazy most of the time. 

“And you're meeting up with the kid later to give him money to compensate.” Minato nods again.

“And you're insisting that it's not out of the kindness of your heart, but out of the fear of Mitsuru-senpai executing you?” Another nod of confirmation. She doesn't buy it. No matter how much he denies it. He could've easily not planned to give the kid money. He could've just apologized and walked away. Yet, he insists that he needs to pay for the clothes. No one just gives acquaintances money. Minato had an ulterior motive, a motive that Yukari hopes is not illegal. Not that he'd break the law, no she'd never think he'd do that. She's just worried about him is all. He never talks to people he doesn't just meet unless they talk to him. 

“Dude, you totally did that outta kindness. Don't deny it!” Junpei wraps his arm around Minato.

“When did you get here?” Yukari asks, slightly annoyed that Junpei had suddenly interrupted their conversation. 

“Just got here Yuka-tan! What you don't want me here?” Junpei puts his index finger over his mouth and bends down dramatically. His back is arched and his butt is pointed out. To which she returns with her eyes rolling. “Plus everyone else is here so don't bully me exclusively,” he attempts to say in a cutesy voice. Which was not cute at all, mind you. Yukari inwardly groans in disgust and annoyance. 

Yukari turns her head to the entrance and she sees Fuuka, Aigis, and Hamuko walk through the door and walk up to them.

“What's going on?” Hamuko looks to her older brother, who just shrugs. She sighs, “I guess we'll hear about this later.”

Minato finally gets Junpei’s arm off of him and grabs his bag. He’d apparently finished packing while Junpei was teasing Yukari. “Yukari-san, unless you want to be left behind,  you should finish packing.”

“Oh right, just give me a minute.” She really should stop spacing out. Yukari quickly packs the rest of her things so she could leave with everyone else.

 

* * *

 

**6/8/17, Newspaper Club Room, 3:30 pm**

“To resume our previous meeting, does anyone have any questions?” Naoto looks to her friends for any at all. When she sees that none of them say anything, she sighs in disappointment. “I thought that since all of you were late you might have something to say.”

Yosuke starts to speak, “Why are they so popular?” 

“That's what we're trying to find out, Senpai. Especially with some of these rumors going around, it is very questionable how these rumors have not surfaced at school. In addition to that, although they were popular before, there is still the question how the group itself became popular."

“Wh-… Where did ya’ guys foun’ out about this stuff?” Kanji looks nervous for some reason and he's avoiding eye contact with Naoto. And he looks red as well. Could he be sick? Naoto dismisses that thought as impossible, he never gets sick. Naoto decides she'll worry about Kanji’s condition later. Right now they all need to focus.

“Yu-senpai and I went around at night to the back alley to find information.”

“Wait, the back alley?” everyone says simultaneously, except the two who had gone there. 

Naoto looks to Rise. Rise looks panicked. The way she said that was a bit ear piercing, making her voice stand out from everyone else's. A reaction Naoto failed to understand. Naoto works with the police, she knows how to protect herself. Unless she was worried about Yu; yes that makes much more sense. It's understandable to not know if someone is capable to defend another person. 

“I understand you're worried about Yu-senpai, but as you can currently see, we are both in healthy condition.” Naoto smiles at Rise.

“Well I can see that,” Rise says quietly. She's seemed to have calmed down a bit. Naoto sees her pout. “I just… don't do that again okay? I… none of us want to see you two hurt.”  

“I understand.” 

“But what did they say?” Yukiko asks. Now there's questions being asked.  

Naoto looks to Yu as a motion that says he should answer the question. She could easily answer it but she wanted to let him speak. 

“They said what's exactly in the files. When and how they saw them is something we'll find out about later along the line.” Yu stares down into the table for concentration. Most likely trying to make a plan for all of us to go execute to make these questions into articles. 

“But what about the rumors? Why doesn't anyone at our school bring them up?” Chie brings up. Another good question. 

“It's most likely due to the fact that the Phantom Thieves has such a large fanbase. If anyone said anything slightly malicious, they'd be denied immediately. It is also very likely that these rumors are just cast aside. They are rumors after all.” Naoto had concluded this before they had all met up. They seemed to be the most plausible reasons. 

Teddie finally speaks, odd for someone like him, “Well all we have to do is find that out, right? That is why we're in this club.” Easier said than done as they say. But Naoto does admit that he has a point. They can't continue to speculate without any investigation.

“For once Teddie has a point.” Yosuke smiles and folds his arms behind his head.

“Hey, that is beary mean.” Teddie slaps Yosuke lightly on the head. Yosuke, apparently had a vast different amount of pain tolerance because he yelped from the hit. Or he could be exaggerating.

“Enough, now does anyone have anymore questions?” Naoto waits for her friends to answer. 

Chie raises her hand. “Can we get some food? I'm starving.”

Naoto's head drops down to her chest. The meeting was short yet productive. She reluctantly responds, “I suppose we can. It is about time we finished up.”

 

* * *

 

**6/8/17, Wild Duck Burger, 4:00 pm**

Makoto walks through the doors of Wild Duck Burger. She checks the time on her watch and sighs in relief that she's not too late. She turns her head to the booth her and her friends are usually seated and sees them there. She quickly walks towards them. “Sorry that I'm late everyone. I had to finish some extra Student Council work.” She takes a seat next to Futaba. A bag is handed to her. She's looks up to see Akira holding the paper bag.

“No worries, we already got your food for you. Plus, you're only like 5 minutes late.” He smiles at her and motions to her to take the bag. She grabs the bag and the contents inside of it, and begins eating. 

“I'm still late,” she quietly mumbles. Being late for anything bothered her. Even by a minute she was still peeved by it. She's always had to be punctual, being allowed to not be that when around certain people was something she was still not used to. 

Makoto stops eating when Morgana sits on her lap. “You snuck him in again?”

“Why not? He's a good cat. It's not like he claws all of our clothes,” Akira says as he puts several fries in his mouth. For the most popular boy in school, he sure breaks the law more than a normal teenager. To which Makoto scolds him for but he never listens. Through if you want to look at all of them objectively, all of them break a law almost every day. Makoto and Haru being the ones who have committed the least amount. For that reason they were dubbed the group moms. A title Makoto did not know how to feel about. On one hand, it meant she was responsible, which she very much agrees with. On the other hand, it meant that she ‘takes care of them’ with Haru, which made her feel off. She wasn't sure why, it just did.

“Yeah, tell the that to my headphones,” Ryuji mentions with spite. He almost crushed Morgana with a suitcase that day. 

“And my paint brushes.” Makoto sees Yusuke bite his lip as he said that. A painful memory for him, apparently Madarame had just given him those new brushes. Thank goodness Makoto told him he could buy the same one and other supplies cheaper online. Or else everyone would have to take him out to eat almost everyday. 

“And my mini fridge!” Futaba wails. She plants her head on Makoto’s shoulder. Makoto pats her head in pity while Morgana hops onto Ann’s lap.

 “How did he not die from that? It was a live wire.” Ann pets Morgana’s head as she looks at the cat with a mixture of fear and inquisitiveness. 

 “He’s a monster cat,” Ryuji mumbles with a mournful look on his face. Makoto assumes that he's remembering all the things Morgana has destroyed that were his.

“I think the more important question is why he likes Ann so much and basically hates Ryuji,” Futaba manages to mumbles from Makoto's shoulder. Futaba turns her head out of Makoto's shoulder and glares at Morgana.

“Maybe it's because Ryuji-kun and Ann-chan are so close he gets jealous sometimes.” Haru chuckles and looks at Ryuji. Ryuji forms a scowl and looks at Yusuke. 

“If that's the case then he should hate Yusuke too! Ann always models for him!” Ryuji bows his head down in frustration. Makoto smiled slightly at the scene in front of her. For all the years they've all known each other, Morgana has always avoided Ryuji and Ryuji has always wanted to pet Morgana. It's nostalgic remembering everything. 

“I do not always model for him!” Ann protests. 

“If you call ruining my art supplies not hating me then I do not want to know what your definition of kind is.” Yusuke's eyebrows furrow and his thin lips turn into a slight frown. 

“Isn't this nice?” Haru turns towards Makoto for her answer. However, Makoto stares back at her, dumbfounded. Then, she realizes that means the question is for her. 

So much for being Student Council President, she mentally scolds herself. She coughs to momentarily gather her thoughts to exclude the chaos happening outside of their conversation. 

“How so?”

“It's nice to have friends how are so close to each other, don't you think?”

“If you put it that way, then yes… Why do you ask?” 

“Just wondering. I didn't have any friends for the majority of my childhood so it's nice being around people so lively.” Haru smiles but has a look of sadness in her eyes. Makoto may be oblivious to most social aspects of life that weren't professional but she can definitely see a sorrowful look from kilometers away. 

“The same goes for me.” Makoto smiles back at Haru.

“Huh?” Haru seems shocked. 

“I didn't have any friends until I met all of them in my second year of middle school. I was so upright then,” Makoto shyly admits. She tugs a strand of hair behind her ear and looks downwards to avoid Haru’s curious gaze.

“I see.” The sad look is gone. Makoto briefly sighs in relief and turns her attention back to her ‘children’.

 

* * *

 

**Meanwhile, at Iwatodai Station**

“Hey, let's grab a bite to eat. I'm starving.” Junpei stretches his arms into the air and yawns. Minato sees him make a knowing smile towards Minato and his friends. It was always nice hanging out with his friends. Right now was not one of those times. The same thing from yesterday was still bothering him. Call him a worrywart all you want but he had a right to be worried. Everyone else couldn't know, not right now. 

“Now that you mention it, I'm bit hungry also,” Fuuka says softly. She puts her hand to her stomach and everyone hears it rumble. She starts blushing madly and everyone chuckles at her sudden embarrassment. Minato just smiles slightly at Fuuka’s reaction. 

“It's okay Fuuka-chan, I'm getting pretty hungry as well. What do you think Minato-kun?” Yukari says, but Minaoto cannot hear.

Minato has his headphones in, the music is blasting and the others could hear it. Yukari puts her face in his front of his face and his eyes widen. In embarrassment for Yukari's face being so close to his, not that he'd ever admit that, he takes off his headphones when Yukari motions to her ears. 

“What did you say?”

“We're asking if you want to go to Wild Duck Burger. Although I'm pretty sure most of us know the answer.” Yukari puts her hands behind her back and leans forward towards Minato with a teasing look in her eyes. She really should stop doing that. It makes him flush easily, only if it was her though. 

“Yep, my brother and I have huge appetites so….” Hamuko looks to her brother with pleading eyes. It was true but they still needed to cut down on how much they ate out. They're spending too much money and Shinji will be mad. Though, it's not like they listen to those reasons anyways. Minato just went along with what everyone else wanted to do.

“Fine, we can go. Just try to not spend too much money. I'll text Senpai that we'll be there and ask if they want to meet up or not.” Minato pulls out his phone, or was about to but Aigis puts her hand on his phone. 

“Do not worry Minato-san. I have already notified them of our meeting place.” Aigis smiles. The look in her eyes suggested that she was proud of herself.  

“Brother!” Minato turns his head towards his little sister.  “You should pat Aigis on her head. Look at her, she looks so cute!” Hamuko jumps up out of glee. Minato looks at Aigis. He guessed that she looked cute. 

He pats and rubs Aigis’s head. What was the point of this again? She's not a dog. Aigis looks happy though so that's a good enough reason why. Minato sees Yukari make a tiny frown from the corner of his eye. Not sure why though.  

Fuuka’s stomach growls again. “We should probably head there right now.” She walks ahead of the others. It takes a few seconds for Junpei and Yukari to follow.

“We should follow them, Minato-san.” Aigis starts walking after them but Minato puts out a hand out to stop her. He needed to ask her something important. 

“Aigis….” He waits for her to respond. 

“Yes, Minato-san?” Aigis looks at him and tilts her head to the side. She looks confused. 

“Aigis, do you ever feel that everyone would just leave you?” Minato questions in a hushed whisper. He can't let anyone know. Not even his own sister. 

“What exactly do you mean? I am afraid I do not understand.” Aigis looks back over to their friends, who are meters ahead of them. Minato takes a glance towards them also. He figured that they only had a few more moments before they realized they had stayed behind. 

“I… nevermind. It's stupid.” He directs his eyes, avoiding Aigis’s curious and gaze. “We should just catch up to everyone.” Minato walks ahead, catching up to their friends as fast as he could. 

Leaving Aigis in the background, letting her watch him wipe tiny tears from his eyes.

 

* * *

 

**6/8/17, Iwatodai Station, 4:15 pm**

Yosuke yawns while he walks to Wild Duck Burger. He looks back in forth between the street in front of him, and his friends. It's been awkward silence ever since the meeting ended. Not that it was ever like this before but Naoto's disapproving glare from the meeting had them all shaken up.

They needed a plan to get information and they needed a topic for what information they should gather. He knows that he could trust Yu to do it but that doesn't make it any less worrisome. 

Right now, all he was focused on was eating food. Delicious, unhealthy food. Better than Junes food for sure, not that he'd ever admit that to his dad. Unless, he wanted to be disowned from his family and get his ass drop kicked out of his house. An exaggeration of course, except for the drop kicking part. 

His attention turn towards an abrupt cough made by Yukiko.

“So… what are you guys getting?” The worst icebreaker ever goes to Yukiko Amagi, Yosuke thinks. She should know what everyone gets by now. They've known each other for years and they've started going to Wild Duck Burger ever since his third year of middle school.

“Same old, same old,” Kanji mutters. 

“I am getting the single patty burger as always,” Naoto answers. Okay, maybe Yukiko wasn't the worst but she could've asked a better question, Yosuke concludes.  

“Same for me Naoto-kun. We always get the same thing together. Senpai, you should try it.” Rise bats her eyelashes at Yu. Rise flirts with Yu a lot. Yosuke isn't sure why but she does.

“I'm good,” Yu replies hastily. He seems nervous for some reason. Yosuke would brush it off if it wasn't for the fact that Yu had been acting paranoid the entire time they were all walking. Maybe this is where his clothes got ruined? Yosuke doesn't know for sure. 

Yosuke looks back to the road in front of him. They were almost there. His stomach rumbles and he sighs in relief that he's finally going to eat. 

That relief however, turned into panic. 

“Wait, is that the Phantom Thieves?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is late. School got in the way. Now hmm, I wonder what Minato is worried about? The meeting of the three groups is here and coming next chapter! 
> 
> I'd like to pay respects to my friend Jason and RIP his mini fridge. True story about the mini fridge btw they told me in the dp5gc discord.
> 
> If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave kudos and comment below of your thoughts on it.


	3. Pussycat Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves make a mess and SEES is on their way to get some burgers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter is late again sorry. I was procrastinating. I'll be working on the next chapter soon so that this doesn't happen again.

**6/8/17, 4:15 pm, Wild Duck Burger**

The Phantom Thieves were nothing more than a bunch of popular idiots is what Futaba had concluded a long time ago. Where that popularity had come from was unbeknownst to them. If Futaba had to describe them, she'd say some are a bunch of furries and that all of them are dumbasses. Excluding, sunshine, mother, and the gremlin, who are the smartest ones in the group. 

Akira doesn't count, you can't say that someone is smart when they've put salt into coffee, like a dumbass instead of sugar. Ryuji never wanted to have Akira attempt to convince him that coffee was good ever again. Then, Ryuji had, for some goddamn reason punched the coffee machine a few weeks after that. In return for the damages, Ryuji had agreed to let Akira do his 'coffee magic again', as he phrased it and agreed to be Akira's taste tester for everything he made.

Futaba had just witnessed something incredibly amazing. And by amazing, it of course meant stupid. Luckily, she had recorded the moment on her phone.  

Ryuji had dropped his burger and Yusuke had went under the table to grab it. When Yusuke had picked it up, his head hit the table so hard that Ann’s drink had toppled over onto Akira's bag. A bag that had been occupied by Morgana at that moment. When Yusuke had gotten back up, Morgana had gotten on top of the table and snatched Ryuji's burger from Yusuke's hand. The burger however, was too big for Morgana to carry, so when Morgana had tried to escape with the burger, he face planted and rolled over the concrete floor. The burger had fallen out of Morgana’s mouth and it had made a critical hit to Akira. With Morgana escaping the scene of the crime, Akira was not happy. The burger was the type that had sauce in it and it got all over Akira’s uniform. His cat had just escaped and Akira seemed to have no idea where he went. Morgana usually didn't wander over here.

Needless to say, Akira is trying to murder Ryuji right now. Futaba is of course, recording still. Morgana had somehow walked away scott free. The workers had somehow failed to notice him walk out of the restaurant. 

Futaba munches on her burger and fries while witnessing the chaos. Her head is now resting on her knees that are perched up on her seat. Her last head cushion is now trying to stop Akira from murdering Ryuji and committing manslaughter on Ann. Poor Ann, she's being squished by Ryuji, who's trying to escape from Akira's chokehold. Makoto had somehow jumped over the table to restrain Akira but she's slipping because of the previously spilled soda. How have they not been kicked out of the restaurant yet or banned? 

Futaba shrugs the thought away and turns to her left and sees Yusuke doing his normal rectangular hand motion to the scene in front of them. Futaba has no idea why this inspires him. Futaba turns to her left and sees Haru with her eyes widened. 

“Are they going to be okay?” Haru asks with mild concern. 

“Uhh, Ann will probably be fine but I think Ryuji and Akira might die because of Makoto.” Futaba scratches her head as she continues recording. “We should probably go look for Morgana. I don't want my key item and my gaming partner to be murdered my group mom. Group mom will probably be taken away if she succeeds with murder. Now scootch your butt, we gotta find some pussy.” Futaba stops recording and motions her hands forward to make Haru move out of the booth. 

Yusuke sighs, “Why must you word it that way?”

“I didn't know you were listening in, Inari.” Futaba grins at him when she's out of the booth. “Are you coming or not?”

“Yes, yes, just give me a moment.”

“Take your time, old man. We'll be waiting outside.” Futaba marches forward with Haru following her. 

“But isn't Haru- oh nevermind.” Yusuke looks at the chaotic scene one more time and gets out of the booth to follow Futaba and Haru.

 

* * *

 

**4:16 pm, Outside of Wild Duck Burger**

"Why are they walking towards us? What are we gonna do?” Chie frantically jumps up and down while her yelps draw attention to the group. Surprisingly, not ear aching and yet still bothersome, even for her best friend.

In the past, Chie has told Yukiko about how people always swoon over the Phantom Thieves day by day. How much people talk about the ‘hot’ leader. Or how ‘sexy’ the Student Council President is. Despite how much Chie tells Yukiko about them, Chie has never told Yukiko about how ‘scared’ she was of their fans until the day before. Why she was scared, Yukiko couldn't figure out. 

It was hard to be scared of people hurting you when one of your friends looked like a thug and was physically able to take out a gang. Or with another friend who works with the police and owns a gun.  

“Calm down Chie, it's not like they're gonna talk to us. We'll just go in after they leave.” Yosuke grins at Chie teasingly.

“Let's just go in. I'm hungry.” Kanji walks ahead of the others and opens the door.

“Ow! Watch where you're going!” They all hear a yelp coming from a girl with long orange hair. 

“Is that Futaba Sakura?” Rise whispers to Yukiko. 

“I believe so,” Yukiko mutters in response. Much shorter in person, she thinks. 

“Uh sorry! I couldn't see ya’ there. Here.” Kanji puts out his hand for Futaba to grab. She accepts it and gets back up. 

“Futaba-chan, are you okay?” Yukiko hears a concerned voice from a girl that was Haru Okumura. Everyone in school knew about the polite girl who tends to the plants at school. 

“Enough of the pleasantries, we need to find that demon cat!” Futaba stomps forward with her hands going up and down in a robotic motion. With Haru and Yusuke Kitagawa following right behind her. Yukiko did not see him even though he was very tall. 

“They seem nice,” Yukiko says after a brief moment of silence.  

“Nice going Kanji-kun, you managed to talk to a girl.” Rise tilts her head to the side and smirks at Kanji. 

“Enough of that! I jus’ wanna eat.” Kanji frowns and walks inside the restaurant.  

“Demon cat? Cats aren't demons,” Yu bitterly grumbles as he walks inside. Cat lover knows best, supposedly. Yukiko chuckles quietly at her thought.

 

* * *

  

**4:18 pm, Iwatodai Station**

They said they were all going to eat. Fuuka was hungry so she made obvious hints for them to go eat with her. So why, why were they chasing after a cat? Fuuka likes cats, she loves animals dearly but she was looking forward to the food and hanging out with friends. She loves her friends, they’ve helped her through a lot but sometimes she gets reminded that she's friends with very eccentric people. At least enjoys the company.  

“Get back here you stupid cat! Give me back my hat!” Junpei tries to chase after a black cat that had somehow stolen his hat. Fuuka just saw it walk towards them on top of a fence and it just grabbed it off of his head.  

“Junpei, get back here!” Yukari yells at the fading figure of Junpei.  

“Shouldn't we go after him?” Fuuka inquires. She looks at Minato and Yukari. Minato just shrugs, Yukari sighs in obvious disappointment, Hamuko grins, and Aigis just starts walking in the direction Junpei ran off to.

“I guess we should,” Minato says. He puts his hand on the nape of his neck and starts walking in the direction Junpei ran off to, with his little sister right behind him. Yukari starts to follow suit but stops when she motions to Fuuka to follow them. Fuuka starts walking alongside them in an awkward silence. Things were unusually quiet, maybe that's why the hung out with Junpei so much.

“So that cat…” Fuuka lets the sentence drag on, waiting for a response.  

“That cat must be pretty smart to grab Junpei’s hat. I wonder why it wanted it." Minato toys with his MP3 player as they keep walking. The voice, as always was flat and uninteresting. A voice that semingly screamed to Fuuka that he either didn't care or didn't know how to respond.  

“Well, I'm glad it somehow thought it was a great idea to steal Junpei’s hat when we were about to eat,” Yukari's voice drips with sarcasm. This was quite an unfortunate time for Fuuka's stomach. On the plus side, it's not everyday something as odd as this happens. And it happens to be with her first real friends.

“I'm never going to let Junpei live this down,” Hamuko says with a devilish grin on her face. She chuckles as she brings her phone out, for what Fuuka assumes to be for recording. She makes a mental note to ask for the video later. 

“Oh look.” Minato stops when he sees something in front of him. Fuuka looks to where he's looking and sees a scene that is quite amusing. 

Junpei is being harassed by the black cat they saw earlier. It is currently making Junpei chase after it in a circle, with his hat still in it's mouth somehow. Junpei keeps almost tripping over the cat but always manages to catch himself.  

“I think this deserves the title of Stupei’s worst moment,” Yukari says bluntly with an unamused expression.  

“I have agree with that,” Minato says. Fuuka sees him walk towards the chase scene and grabs the cat burglar. Minato grabs the hat from the cat's mouth, “Here you go, Stupei.” Junpei looks offended when Minato says that. 

Fuuka is completely sure he said that with a tiny grin. Amusing to see him pick up some of their habits and hobbies. Minato has started working out again because of Akihiko and started playing video games with Junpei. He's started to smile more now that Hamuko is here. 

“Did you get it?” Fuuka asks Hamuko. 

“Of course I did. I can't let my best guy friend have this happen to him and not take a video of it to show him twenty years later. That'd be betrayal.” Hamuko stops recording and puts her phone away in her bag.  

“Ok. Just make sure to send it to me.” Fuuka grins slightly. She needs that video to watch when she was down. Junpei always cheers her up so she needs a video just in case he's not there during an unfortunate moment of her life.

Junpei and Minato walk back towards them, with the cat still in Minato's hands for some reason.

“We must find the owners of this cat. I do not want someone to be sad because of their cat being stolen by someone when we release it,” Aigis says when they return. 

“Yeah that makes sense. We don't want a cat being kidnapped by a little girl who wants a pet,” Yukari says. 

“Didn't you almost let Koromaru get kidnapped?” Fuuka sees a tiny grin form on Minato's face as he says that. She figures it's an Arisato trait to tease their friends. 

“It was one time!” Yukari protests to the point. Fuuka remembers Aigis had almost thrown a metal pole at the little girl who had tried to kidnap Koromaru. 

“Hey that's Morgana!” says a feminine voice. Fuuka and her friends turn towards the source of the noise and sees a tall teen, a short teen, and a teen with fluffy hair. 

The short one had went straight up to Minato and tried to grab the cat from him. Minato lifts the cat up before she could grab it.  

“Give me my cat back!” the short girl yells as she jumps up and down in an attempt to get the cat. 

“How do we know that this cat is yours?” Minato looks at her with an unreadable expression. Fuuka knows that he makes that look when he's concentrating, in this case Fuuka believes it is to tell if the girl is lying or not.

“I'm not lying,” the girl protests once more. “The cat’s name is Morgana and the phone number on it's tag says ‘1-800-FuckYou-GiveMe-BackMy-Cat!” The girl groans as she stops wailing at Minato.  

Minato actually looks at the tag and gives the cat to the girl, to Fuuka's surprise. The girl smiles and runs off with the cat with her friends. 

“Did you just?” Yukari looks at him with a confused expression.  

“It actually said ‘1-800-FuckYou-GiveMe-BackMy-Cat’.” Minato's face remains emotionless even though had said something that was completely out of his character. 

“That's not a very good phone number to put on a pet tag,” Aigis points out. 

“At least it's funny. Maybe the owner knows that the cat will just come back right to them,” Hamuko smiles cheerfully. She was always so optimistic. So bright.  

Fuuka's stomach rumbles, “Can we go eat now?”

 

* * *

 

**4:25 pm, Wild Duck Burger**

“Okay we got the naughty pussy. Now we are returning to the checkpoint,” Futaba says almost too proudly. 

“I will reiterate, why must you word it that way?” Yusuke pinches his temples lightly. The wording was so vulgar. He was used to Ryuji but Futaba says things that are more sexual, while Ryuji just blatantly curses.

“Cause I want to Inari,” Futaba grins up at him and he just sighs in disappointment. How could someone so vulgar be the so called, ‘Little Sister’ of the Phantom Thieves. 

“Let's just stop arguing for now. I'm sure that the others are worrying where we are so we should hurry,” Haru says softly. Yusuke could not understand how Haru was always so forgiving and positive. She brings happiness, purity, and hope everywhere she goes. She was the embodiment of those adjectives. Yusuke’s sensei is also a great inspiration as well. Yusuke has only seen Madarame as caring and compassionate of his work. Something Yusuke will always admire of his sensei.

Once they return to Wild Duck Burger, they could see that everyone is still trying to kill each other. However, Yusuke and the others could see that it is for an entirely different reason. Ann is now trying to kill Ryuji by shoving a burger down his throat. Ann’s hair now has soda dripping down from it and is falling down to her uniform. Makoto and Akira are trying to stop Ann but it seems that Ann's thirst for vengeance seems too powerful. Yusuke puts his hands out to frame the scene. He thinks that this will make for a great example of vengeance. 

Yusuke hears Futaba chuckle and he turns to see Futaba with her phone out again. He also sees Haru giggle while holding Morgana. When Morgana got there is something Yusuke did not know. Morgana’s place in Haru’s arms are short lived when he jumps down and walks towards the table. 

Morgana sits in the booth, and Yusuke, Futaba, and Haru follow him. They sit down at the booth and watch the scene in silence until the others notice that they're there.  

Akira, Makoto, and Ann stop, “Oh there you guys are. Where did you go?” Her hold on Ryuji drops and Ryuji breathes out. 

“We went to find the good pussy,” Futaba says as if that was a completely normal sentence for someone to say. She picks up Morgana and makes him do a little dance to their friends across the booth.  

Makoto and Akira just stare at her in disappointment, Yusuke figures that they also did not approve her choice of words.  

“Please, don't ever say that again," Akira looks unimpressed. He had just gotten his uniform ruined and his cat ran away without warning. No wonder, Yusuke thinks. Yusuke can see that Makoto and Ryuji’s uniforms have been ransacked by food. Now they smell of thousand island sauce, soda, and beef. They do not seem too happy either.

“What happened?” Futaba snickers.  

“After you guys left some people came in and started to ask us questions. Stuff like ‘what are you all like’, and ‘what are your hobbies’, and shit like that,” Ryuji explains.  

“Those ‘random people’ were Yu Narukami, Naoto Shirogane, and Yosuke Hanamura,” Makoto adds. 

“Yeah, them.”

“Ryuji just happened to spill his refilled drink on Ann by slipping on something one of those guys dropped. It looks like a scarf,” Akira further explains.

“Aw, come on! It ain't my fault."

Ann flares up again, “Yeah but you didn't even help me. And to make it worse, you drop another burger, and it landed on me!”

“Well yeah but that doesn't mean that you had to shove it in my mouth!”

“You didn't want to eat it! And I paid for that, so I am not letting it go to waste.” Ann crosses her arms and frowns. 

“Where are they now?” Haru asks while looking around. Changing the subject, Yusuke assumes. 

“They left with their food before you guys came back. They said they only wanted to talk to us because one of them made Futaba topple over. Though I don't think that's the whole story.” Akira pushes his glasses up.  

“I don't think so either. They're apart of the newspaper club, so they may be doing an article about us,” Makoto explains. 

“Let's just hope it's nothing too scandalous. I wouldn't want to be questioned by the teachers if they write anything about us that's not very…” Ann pauses, hesitating, Yusuke notices. “...acceptable to other people. 

“We should just go and not worry about this for now,” Makoto says.

“Yeah worst case scenario is that they stalk us,” Ryuji says casually. 

“We need to get you all cleaned up first,” Haru says before anyone can walk out.

 

* * *

 

**4:26 pm, Wild Duck Burger**

Junpei and his friends finally make it to their usual burger place. He's glad that he has his hat. He would've been pissed if some random cat had gotten away with stealing the last memory Junpei has of his mother. Back when he had a full family, back when his dad didn't go out all the time. The past doesn't matter right now, all that Junpei was focused on now was getting some food.

Junpei orders their food but realize that he didn't bring money with him.  

“...Hey do any of you guys have cash on you?” Junpei says hesitantly. He's afraid to turn around, he can already feel Yukari's glare piercing through his baseball cap. 

“I do, here.” Minato hands Junpei 3000 yen. 

“You're a lifesaver man. I didn't know what I would've done if Yuka-tan had tried to murder me,” Junpei whispers to Minato. 

“Yeah, but you still owe me,” Minato says blunty. Junpei jumps.

“Dude, I thought we were bros!” Junpei pouts slightly and sees Minato with a tiny smile on his face. 

“Yeah, but I always pay.”

“Ugh fine. I'll pay you back tomorrow,” Junpei groans.

Junpei pays for the food and they all sit down. Junpei looks around for any type of amusement and sees some teenagers covered in food and failing trying to clean themselves up. Junpei starts laughing and covers his mouth before it could get too loud.  

“What is wrong, Junpei-san?” Aigis asks. She tilts her head in confusion. Junpei responds by pointing to the booth right next to them.

“Shouldn't go see what's wrong?" Hamuko asks.

“Sure why not, its not like we have anything better to do,” Yukari agrees.

"I think they're the kids we saw earlier. Maybe the cat is there." Hamuko walks towards the booth, with Yukari following her.

“We should follow them,” Aigis states. 

“Yeah.” Minato has a blank expression and is staring at Yukari. Junpei taps him on the shoulder for Minato to look at him. Junpei just wiggles his eyebrows and Minato looks away and just tips Junpei's hat down. Junpei lifts his hat back up and walks towards the booth. 

“What happened?” Minato . The teenagers look shocked and a bit scared. 

“We're college students that go to Tatsumi Uni. We ain't gonna hurt you,” Junpei explains before they get pinned as creeps.

“Yeah, my idiot friends got food all over them,” the girl with long, orange hair says.

“Wait, you were the one with the cat right?” Junpei says.

“Thanks for finding him,” the guy with curly black hair speaks. 

“No problem." Minato waves his hand in front of him.

“His name is Morgana. He wanders off a lot but not around here. I'm sorry for troubling you,” the boy apologizes.

“Hey, hey cool your jets man. The cat just stole my hat and we just got it by coincidence. It's no big deal,” Junpei explains. 

“And you drag Makoto for being prim and proper,” the boy with bleached hair grumbles.

“Can we just get cleaned up already? I don't want to be sticky anymore,” the girl with blonde hair whines. 

“Ann, please watch your choice of words,” the girl with short, brown hair cringes.  

“Makoto!” the girl exclaims in response.

Minato interrupts, “We should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Minato, this is Yukari-san, Fuuka-san, Junpei-kun, Hamuko, and Aigis.” Minato points to each person when he says their names. Minato was always so proper. Junpei wishes he'd lighten up a bit. Why couldn't Minato just be relaxed for once?

“I'm Akira, this is Makoto, Ann-chan Ryuji-kun, Yusuke-kun, Futaba, and Haru-san.” Akira does the same motion of introduction for his friends.

“Great, now that we all know each other let's get you guys cleaned up before our food arrives,” Hamuko says with a level of enthusiasm Junpei was too familiar with. She'd say things like that when she was ready to socialize, meaning new friends. Junpei never knows how she makes so many friends. He would never understand why she does in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feed Fuuka Yamagishi 2k17. Sorry that things are slow, I need to have everyone, or at least most people meet until things could get going. Then chapters will focus on one group at a time so that things aren't that confusing. Or I'll stick to one person in each group in each chapter. 
> 
> The IT weren't in here as much because I'm having trouble writing in their perspectives because of the pacing right now. I didn't include them questioning the Thieves because that honestly didn't matter in this chapter but it will be addressed next chapter.


	4. Discussion of Arising Concerns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Concerns are raised about Ken Amada and Yu Narukami.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FABTANWYJYE TH ONCE AGAIN THE CHAPTER IS LATE SORRY ;;~;;
> 
> Updates will be irregular for now on but they will com every week.

**6/8/17, 4:27 pm, Wild Duck Burger**

Getting food all over yourself was something that was known to not be enjoyable. It was everything Akira had expected to be, except the part that he was told that his cat almost got kidnapped. But why did it have to lead up to this?

Right now, Akira's hair was being pampered by a college student he didn't know. Why they had suddenly decided to do this is something Akira would never understand. Why someone like him? 

It wasn't that he minded the kindness that the group had shown, it was a nice break from everything. But from Akira's experience, people always wanted something in return. All the fangirls being nice to him because they wanted to go on a date with him. All the guys that compliment him on his grades but in reality, just wanted to suck up to him so that girls would talk to him.. Nice people but everything seemed too superficial. Maybe he was just being paranoid. There was probably a lot of nice people at Gekkoukan that were his fans. Then again, Akira got rejected from his parents’ home for God sake. Why would anyone like someone like that? Then again, not even his friends know.

Akira's hair is being ruffled through with a wet napkin. He keeps trying to move away because he was sitting down. Meaning that a certain body part was too many times too close to touching his face.

“Hold still! I would be done faster if you hadn't moved so much!” Hamuko complains. Akira doesn't comply. He didn't want to touch the breasts of someone he didn't know, whether it was on accident or not. He may like girls, but he likes consent even more. Dying by accidentally touching the breasts of a stranger was not on his bucket list.

“I can't….. Trust me, you want me to move,” Akira says. 

“Nah… I don't care if your head touches my boobs, its probably gonna be on accident,” she casually responds. Akira chokes on air and his glasses almost fall off. His head almost hits the girl, Hamuko by accident.

His head is pulled towards her again. She rubs his head harder to get rid of more stickiness. The others are getting cleaned also, none of them having difficulty with the process. Akira sees that Ryuji seems to be enjoying this a bit too much.

The front of the restaurant rings. A feminine voice speaks, “What are all of you doing?” 

Akira looks towards the direction the voice comes from. He sees a woman with red hair and two men, one with white hair, and one with brown hair and a beanie. They all seem to be around the same age as Minato's friends.

“These high schoolers got food stuck on them so we're helping out,” Yukari explains. 

“I thought we were here to get food?” the man with white hair questions. 

“Be patient, Aki. We'll just order our food while they do their thing.” the man with a beanie scratches his head and walks towards the register. 

“Order number 11!” an employee exclaims.

“Can you get our food, Shinjiro-senpai?” Minato asks the man with a beanie. The man groans in response but grabs their food anyways.

 

* * *

 

**4:32 pm**

“And that's what happened,” Akira finishes his explanation of how things ended up as they were. Now part of the several incidents called ‘Pussy Ruins Everything’, courtesy of Futaba for coming up that name. 

“That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard,” the man, named Shinjiro immediately said. 

“That's why we said that pussy ruins everything!” Futaba claims loudly.

“That's what you claimed, Futaba-chan,” Makoto affirms to calm Futaba down. She puts her hand on Futaba’s shoulder. She said that in a way a mother would do to their energetic child.

“Pfft, whatever. Tell that to your clothes,” Futaba says.

“Anyways, we should get going.”

“Hold on,” Minato says. He makes a downward hand motion to signal them to stay. “I want to ask you something.” Minato looks straight at Akira.

“Yeah?” Akira looks back in confusion. Did he do something wrong?

“Your uniforms… you know Ken Amada, correct?” Minato puts his cheek onto his palm.

“You mean, Vice Prez. Yeah, we know him. He's like, in love with Makoto.” Ann gets hit by Makoto for that assumption. 

“He is not!” she immediately rejects. “And yes, we do know him. What about him?” Makoto inquires. She looks at them for an answer. 

The red haired lady, Mitsuru speaks, “We've been noticing that Ken-kun has been acting strange recently. We'd like for you to keep an eye on him at school to find any signs of why that is.” Mitsuru bows her head. 

Haru speaks before any of her friends can, “We will don't worry. He's in my class so I'll be sure to watch him. It's very endearing that you are so confused for your friend, it would be rude to not help.” Haru smiles softly. 

Akira has always wondered where she gets her people skills from but it seems like her and Mitsuru had gotten them from the same place.

“Wait, I n- mmph!” Ryuji's mouth is covered by Ann before he could make a full protest. 

“Let's go,” Akira announces before anyone else could argue.

Akira stands up and walks out. Everyone else follows suit, except Ryuji, who’s being manhandled by Ann. 

 

* * *

 

**4:30 pm, Paulownia Mall**

Everyone had just finished their food and are now they're exploring the mall like ‘normal teenagers’, as Rise called it. What they had learned from the Phantom Thieves was close to nothing. They refused to answer any questions that her, Yosuke, and Yu had asked. Not surprising to her, she sees them all be bombarded by fangirls everyday after school. She figures that they must be annoyed by the attention by now.

Rise is dragging Naoto to every shop that catches her attention. While holding her hand, no less. Embarrassing is what Naoto made it out to be. Naoto's face was getting way too hot for her liking.

“Rise-san, can we stop for a moment?” Naoto says quickly, before she could get dragged into another shop that was way too bright for her liking.

Rise stops and loosens her grip on Naoto. She turns to her, “What’s up, Naoto-kun?” Rise tilts her head at her.

“I was wondering if… you are happy with the topic of our investigation. I know that you’ve had issues with other popular people in your old middle school, so I just… want to be sure that you were ‘comfortable’ with this,” Naoto asks. “Is comfortable even the right word for this,” she mutters to herself right after. Feelings were not her forte, it was always facts and analysis. Right now, Naoto had concluded that Rise most likely had an ulterior motive for going along with this story. Naoto could understand that Rise was afraid about being hurt, but being afraid that Naoto was going to get hurt? Naoto could barely fathom that in her head. Why would the popular, young idol, Rise Kujikawa be worried about her friend that she’s known for years. Naoto knows that Rise knows that she can protect herself.

In the past, the club has always avoided writing articles about the Phantom Thieves, out of fear for bad publicity. But right now, the ones who read their paper wanted stories about the faces of their school. Now they have no choice but to oblige.

Rise shakes her head, “No of course not. I trust you and Senpai. This is a big chance for us, so let’s make this count.” Rise’s eyes widen when she looks beyond Naoto.

“Naoto-kun, let's go here next!” Rise announces before Naoto could form any protest. Rise gives Naoto her brightest smile. A smile that Naoto could never be sure that it was genuine or not. Rise reaffirms her grip on Naoto’s hand and drags her away into the store. What was she going to do with this girl? 

 

* * *

 

**4:50 pm**

Store after store, and Naoto just wants to sit down and Rise refuses to let go. Meanwhile, their friends are sitting down by the fountain, watching Naoto and Rise go in and go out of each store, as if they were in the iconic Scooby Doo scene. 

“Is Naoto-kun alright?” Yukiko’s eyes are locked into them. They all see that Naoto is about to fall asleep on Rise’s shoulder. 

“Maybe..?” Chie releuctently says. Yosuke sees her look at Rise and Naoto with a confused expression as they go in and out of stores.

“I'm sure that she'll be fine. Besides, I bet Kanji-kun wishes that he was Rise-chan right now.” Yosuke wiggles his eyebrows at Kanji.

Kanji's face quickly turns red. He almost jumps at Yosuke. “What do ya’ mean. ‘Tis not like I like her or anythin’.” Kanji looks away from Yosuke and taps his feet repeatedly. 

Yosuke smirks, “Yeah like we’ll believe that. Us not knowing about your gigantic crush on Naoto-kun is like us not knowing who the Phantom Thieves are.

“Shaddup!” Kanji barks.

“Anyways,” Teddie cheers. “I think that I’ve earned myself some topsicles. So… Yosuke….” Teddie looks at Yosuke.

Yosuke objects, “Hell no man, you had some last week. I need to save up.” Yosuke’s eyebrows crinkle when he sees Teddie pout at him.

“Bu- but, that was last week,” Teddie stammers.

“Nope, not today. Just get your own money man. I bet you can ask Yu for some. Or better yet, get your own job.” Yosuke smirks.

Teddie actually looks to Yu, “Sensei… Yosuke is being mean,” he whines, once again. Yosuke swears, he’s like their kid, or his brat younger brother that his best friend happens to like. 

“Huh? Money? Okay, here.” Yu reaches into his pocket to grab his wallet. Yosuke stops him before Yu actually pulls it out. Why is Yu giving money to Teddie? He’s only 16, he should save his money for all the dates people keep asking him on. Was Yosuke jealous? Of course not, he just didn’t want his best friend waste his money on things Yosuke didn’t find productive… right?

Yosuke gets out of his thoughts and sees Yu staring down into the ground, “Dude, you’ve been out of it this entire time. Is something wrong?” Yosuke asks. He’s never really noticed Yu acting like this before. His friend may be quiet but not, depressing as far as Yosuke knows.

Yu gets startled by Yosuke suddenly talking to him. “Uh yeah. I’m just fine.” Yu looks away from Yosuke. Where those tears that he saw?

“Hey dude, maybe we should stop for today. Get some rest. Right, guys?” Yosuke looks to where his friends are, well were. They aren’t there anymore. 

Yosuke whispers to himself, “Where the hell are they when Yu needs them?”

 

* * *

 

**5:00 pm, Wild Duck Burger**

“And that’s what happened,” Hamuko finishes her story. She had just told her senpai about how Junpei almost lost to a cat. She even showed them the video.

“I’ve got to say, Junpei, you never fail to amaze me.” Akihiko smirks.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean,” Junpei retorts.

Mitsuru makes a tiny smile, “Honestly, how was that cat able to do that,” she questions. 

Junpei freezes, “I dunno,” he admits.

“Maybe it’s like a supercat,” Hamuko theorizes. She saw that cat fly, fly like no cat has ever flown before.

“That’s ridiculous,” Minato says before she could say anything more.

Hamuko pouts, “You’re no fun, Bro.”

“You’re just being crazy,” he says bluntly.

“I must ask though,” Mitsuru interrupts. “That was very quick of you to decide such a thing, Minato-kun.”

His breath hitches for a second, “I… I’m just worried about Ken-kun is all. He doesn’t seem to be getting enough sleep these days."

Fat chance. He’s probably up to something, and his self-proclaimed, ‘Lovely Sister’ plans to find out.

“Yeah, yeah we get it,” Junpei casually says. “We all know that you’re this super emo guy who cares for everyone around him.” Junpei grins at his friend.

Minato looks away and rubs his hair that’s over his eye. For as long as Hamuko could remember, her brother had always done that when someone compliments him. She finds it a cute quirk of his.

Meanwhile, Yukari and Fuuka are eating peacefully while Shinjiro is scolding Akihiko on his table manners. This had come to the outsiders of the exchange attention when Akihiko slams his fist onto the table.

“Shinji! Why haven’t you told me about this?” Akihiko says while almost launching at him. He glares at Shinjiro while the other man remains unaffected by his friend’s outburst.

“Tell you about what?” Hamuko asks.

Akihiko’s glares remains still as he answers, “Shinji’s never told me that Ken has been going out at night. It’s dangerous here at night,” he grumbles.

“I’m sure he’s fine. He’s 17 now, remember?” Hamuko assures him.

“Yeah, he’s not that 11 year old we’ve met him as. He’s probably fine,” Yukari adds.

Akihiko relaxes after the girls say that. Hamuko swears, Akihiko is like Ken’s overprotective brother, or dad.

“But where is he going?” Minato asks.

“I don’t know,” Shinji responds. “I’ve been planning to follow him, to see where he goes but he’d definitely spot me.”

“That is most likely what would happen,” Mitsuru concludes. “For once, I’d say say that I regret teaching him how to know that someone is following you.”

“You what?” Yukari's question was more of an annoyed statement.

“It was just some defense that Senpai and I taught him,” Minato explains, as if it was the most normal thing two adults could teach a teenager. Hamuko’s never heard of this.

“When did this happen?” Fuuka asks.

“About 4 years ago,” Mitsuru answers.

“Okay, now I’m concerned about the other things that you’ve both taught him.” Yukari sighs.

“This was back when the island was crawling with ‘shadows’,” Minato explains.

Akihiko bites his lip, “Well now they might be back so it’s probably for the best that you two taught him.” His feet start to tap faster and faster as the seconds pass.

Mitsuru’s head lowers, “Yes, signs have shown that they’re on the move. Which is even more reason why we need to watch what Ken is doing at night.”

“You guys need to relax,” Junpei suddenly says. “They’re not here yet so we jus’ gotta prepare like last time.” Junpei grins at his friends.

“Junpei-san is right,” Aigis says.

“Huh?” Hamuko gasps.

“Right now, we need to focus on Ken-kun.”

“Aigis is right. Fuuka-san, can you start tracking Ken-kun’s phone,” Mitsuru asks.

“Really? Isn’t that a bit…” Fuuka tilts her head to the side.

“Please, we need to do this now,” Minato begs.

“Hmph… all right. If that’s what you all think then, I’ll see what I can do.” Fuuka nods.

“Thank you.” Mitsuru smiles at Fuuka. 

 

* * *

 

**5:00 pm, LeBlanc**

Ryuji yawns, “Finally… I can rest my feet.” He plops himself down onto one of the stools at the front counter.

“It never fails to amaze me how retro this cafe is.” Yusuke’s eyes widen as he looks at the new additions to the cafe. 

“Yep, Sojiro just added some new decorations.” Akira smiles at Yusuke's reaction to the decor.

“I think you mean that you added some new decorations. Your adult friends keep giving you shit, I'm almost convinced that you're fucking them.” Futaba points an accusing finger at Akira. Akira notices that Yusuke's head pops up when she says that.

“Well yeah, it'd be rude not to.” Akira gives a small smile and scratches the back of his head.

“Well anyways, I'm so glad that we finally get to rest. We've been out all day.” Ann stretches her arms out and yawns loudly. 

“Now, there must be a reason to why Akira invited us here so let's listen to what he has to say.” Makoto switches her previous gaze from Haru to Akira. Interesting, Akira thinks.

“I just wanted to ask all of you to go along with what Minato-san asked to do.” Akira glances at his friends for an answer.

“Although the request is strange, I believe we should do it,” Haru utters. “If there's something wrong with him, we should at least ask what's wrong.”

“I agree,” Makoto says. “If something is wrong with Ken-kun then it'll cause more problems at school as well.”

“Yeah, people will hound us even more.” Futaba leans her head back on her chair.

Yusuke puts his hand on his chin and sighs, “That will be troublesome. And even then, the principal will pile more work on Makoto.” 

Ryuji sighs, “Argh, I guess you're right. We don't want Vice Prez collapsing and the school going crazy.” He scratches his head and yawns, “Geez, I swear, all of you are way to kind for your own good.”

Akira chuckles at Ryuji’s statement, “Yeah, I guess you're right. Senpai has been kind to me before, I just want to return the favor.”

Ann hums, “Hmm, when was this?”

Akira shifts his position and looks down. He makes a small smile, “...It was a long time ago.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so the chapter is late because I wasn't really feeling it. But it's back so yay.


	5. Faint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch is supposed to be happy, correct?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of late but not really yay. This chapter isn't that long because I want all the events to be spread out.

**6/8/17, 4:55 pm, Paulownia Mall**

Yosuke grabs Yu before he could collapse. “Hey, hey, Partner. Look at me, okay?” 

Yu looks up at him. “I-I'm fine. I'm just feeling faint.” His voice is cracked and tears start to flow out of his eyes. 

“I'm here for you, okay? We'll all here for you.” Yosuke hears Yu continue sobbing and making short breaths. The cries continue as Yosuke patiently waits for his friend to calm down. 

Yu manages to say, “Wh-where are the others?” The grip on Yosuke's shirt gets tighter.

Yosuke looks up and glances to the area where Rise and Naoto were. He sees their friends talking to the idol and detective. “Don't worry, they all went to go get Rise and Naoto… If there's anything wrong just tell me. I'm here for you.”

“I-I'm sorry. I can't, n-not right now.” Yu pulls away from Yosuke and wipes his tears away with his sleeve. 

“That's fine bro. I'm gonna be here, alright?” Yosuke makes the best smile he can at the moment.  

Yu chuckles and smiles at Yosuke, “Yeah.”

 

* * *

 

 **6/9/17, Lunch, Gekkoukan High School**  

Walking to the roof to eat lunch was not an exciting trip. Everyday people would say things like this to them as if the one they were talking about couldn’t hear them at all. Compliments were nice but sometimes the words said were more than they needed to know. At least it’s not as bad as the love letters they recieve. 

“Ahh, Kurusu-senpai! Over here!” a random girl screams at Akira. Akira doesn’t bother to look in that direction. He and his friends walk on 

“His cat is so cute, I want to steal it,” another girl squeeks. Akira grips his bag instinctively.

“Aww, Futaba-chan is so cute! I just want to get close to her and pinch her cheeks,” a junior squeals. Futaba pokes her own cheek. 

“Look at Takamaki today, she’s so hot!” a freshman whispers to his friend. Ann walks a bit faster. 

“Kitagawa-kun is always so hot. I want him to criticize me!” a girl exclaims a little too excitedly. Yusuke pinches his temples.

“I want Prez and Okumura-san to step on me,” a senior murmurs to his friend. Haru giggles and Makoto rolls her eyes.  

“Damn, Sakamoto has some great muscles.” a rugged, female student awes. Ryuji flexes his arms. 

“Can you calm down your thirst for one second, Ryuji,” Futaba says. 

“He can’t, it’s his signature trait,” Akira responds with a smirk plastered on his face. Ryuji smacks him on the head. 

“Enough fighting I just want to eat,” Makoto groans. 

“Yeah same. I didn’t get to eat breakfast today,” Ann whines. 

“Or Ann just wants to see her girlfriend,” Ryuji teases. He instantly gets slapped on the back of the head by Ann and gets pinched by Makoto.  

“Ow!” Ryuji yelps. 

“You did deserve it,” Yusuke blatantly states. 

“Shaddup… We all know that Ann has the hots for Shiho. She’s just too much of a pussy to confess to her,” Ryuji grumbles.

“Ann-chan wants to do things at her own pace so we should just let her do it by herself. Although it is getting a bit tiring watching her dance around her feelings.” Haru giggles.

“Wha- I don’t- wait she’s right there!” Ann squeals and hides behind Akira. 

“Just go up and talk to her,” Akira whispers to his friends cowered behind him.

 “Ugh but…” Ann weakly protests. 

“Just go!” Futaba pushes Ann to Shiho.

“Let’s just go ahead,” Akira tells his friends.

 

* * *

 

 **Lunch, Rooftop**  

“Argh, its nice to get some fresh air.” Ryuji plops down onto the ground while the rest of his friends join him. Makoto closes the door behind them.

“And some decent peace and quiet,” Makoto mumbles, as she sits down next to Haru. 

“It’s not that bad, people are just really horny for all of you. You tickle their jingles.” Futaba snickers.

Yusuke scowls. “Again with that vulgar phrasing.”

Akira smirks and pushes up his glasses. The glasses glint from the reflected sunlight, and he speaks, “I like to believe that I massage their moist monster holes.” 

“I- please stop," Makoto stammers. 

Akira slaps Ryuji on the thigh and Ryuji moans. "Agh, Daddy!"

Yusuke's forehead wrinkles while Akira and Ryuji are losing their breath due to laughter. Futaba is giggling so hard that she's laying on the ground. Haru only smiles as she watches the eccentric group.

Makoto throws her hands up. "That's it! I have no friends," she says exasperatedly. "Haru is my only friend now," she proclaims in a flat voice.

"Aww, I appreciate that," Haru says.

"Makoto, that's gay," Akira teases. His signature smirk is plastered on his face. 

"Akira Kurusu, I am about to disembowel you in your sleep," she growled. Her threat only causes everyone in the group to snicker and Haru has her sweet smile on her face, as usual. 

The door that leads to the roof bursts open. Ann walks through with a faint tone of red visible on her cheeks, “I heard all of that and I am disgusted. I swear I am going to jump off the roof because of you people.” She sits down next to Futaba. 

“You were already dead to me, don’t worry,” Akira says. 

Ann crosses her legs and rolls her eyes, “Well gee thanks. I’m glad that I am so dear to you.” Ann smiles. 

Haru makes a tiny smile that makes Ann freeze. “How were you able to hear when you just got here?” 

Ann’s body jitters. “Ah you know…" Ann looks at the ground but the grin forming on her face was evident. "I was checking my phone when I got there and I heard ‘that’ so I opened the door.”  

“Uh huh sure, its not like you were makin’ out with Shiho or anythin’.” Ryuji teases.  

Ann almost pounces at Ryuji but Makoto grabs her by the stomach. Eventually, Ann seizes her attempt to murder Ryuji and falls flat to the floor.  

“Its not like that,” she grumbles. “She’s just so pretty and straight, I can’t stand it.”

“I’ve heard that food makes you feel better when you’re feeling down. Let’s all eat and then we can discuss Ann’s feelings for Suzui-san at a later date,” Yusuke proposes.

“Thank you, Yusuke-kun,” Ann grumbles. She moves upright to grab her food and all of them start eating.

 

* * *

  

 **Lunch, Rooftop**  

“Hmm, Yusuke you ain’t hungry? You have a lot of food there.” Ryuji looks at Yusuke’s bento box and sees that Yusuke hasn’t even eaten half of his meal. 

“Ah, I’m afraid that I haven’t had the biggest appetite lately. You can have the rest if you would like.” Yusuke hands over the bento box to Ryuji. 

“That’s not very healthy Yusuke-kun. You’ve been saying that for the past few days,” Haru says. 

“Have you been eating at home?” Akira asks. 

“You look really tired as well. Have you even been sleeping,” Ann asks. She looks at him and looks her gaze at him to the giant bags under his eyes. It was well known that Yusuke didn’t have the best health habits but nothing like this. The bags were bigger than usual and he at least ate his food during lunch.

Yusuke pauses his movement. “I… yes I have. You don’t need to worry.” Yusuke looks away from his friends. “I think that lunch is ending soon, we should get going.” Yusuke frantically packs his things and rushes through the door and down the stairs. 

Everyone just stares at the door their friend just went through.

Ryuji starts to speak, “Is it just me or…” 

“Yep that was weird, something must be up,” Futaba announces. 

“The question is what causing it.” Akira pushes up his glasses again. He grabs his bangs and rubs his hair. 

“For now, let’s see what else he does that will cause concern. We also need to do the same for Ken-kun so keep your eyes open. Any objections?” Makoto glances at her friends.

“No, Queen,” they all say simultaneously.

Makoto huffs. “Where on Earth did you get that nickname?”

“Everyone here call you that. I think that it's really cool.” Haru smiles at Makoto.  

Makoto’s face forms a faint blush and her eyes divert from Haru to Morgana in an instant. “I think that we should get going. Make sure to do what I said, alright.” 

 

* * *

  

 **3:00 pm, Tatsumi University**  

Yukari yawns once the class lecture was finally over. She looks to her right and sees Minato almost faceplant into the table. 

“Did you even sleep last night?” she asks 

“Nope,” he mumbles. His face turns towards her but his hair covers the majority of his face.

She sighs. “Do you want to go get coffee or something. It’s really pitiful to see you like this.” 

“Caffeine sounds nice, but spending time with you sounds even better,” he mumbles. She could’ve sworn that she saw him smirk when he said that. 

A bright blush forms on her face, “Wha- don’t be ridiculous!” she frantically says.  

He chuckles. “I’m joking but I do want some coffee.” 

“Geez, I would normally smack you for that, you know,” she grumbles. 

“Then why don’t you?”

She smiles, “Geez, if you want it so bad then I might as well.”  

Minato looks at her and smiles back, “Are you into that kind of stuff?” he asks. 

Her eyebrows furrow, “Ugh no, but I bet Junpei is.”

Minato laughs, “How would you know?” 

Yukari puts her cheek on the palm of her hand and crosses her legs to shift her position toward him. “Mitsuru-senpai looked through his stuff one time because she thought someone broke in. But she saw some things that she burned later.” 

Minato’s head comes off from the desk and crosses his arms. “Oh really? Tell me more.” 

“I would but then I wouldn’t have things to talk about when we get coffee.” She winks at him. 

Minato’s breath hitches and he coughs, “Y-yeah, I guess you’re right.” He looks away from her and God only knows how much he’s blushing right now.

 

* * *

 

**After School, Class 2-2**

“So we didn’t find anything yet?” Yu asks Naoto.

“No, unfortunately. I believe that we should wait for a time when they are willing to answer out questions.” Naoto tips her hat and looks at the ground. 

“On another subject, how was shopping with Rise-chan?” Naoto's attention is turned to Yu once he said that. Yu smirks at her when he sees her at a loss for words. 

“What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?” 

“I-” Naoto stops when she hears a thud come from outside the classroom. 

She looks at Yu and they both walk out of the classroom and sees a collapsed Yusuke flat on the floor. His bag is away from his body and the supplies in it have all spilled out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support everyone! I've been very bust because of homework and I've started another project so stay tuned if you like some Minato x Yukari.


	6. Food and Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusuke collapses and the club helps him. Minato and Yukari go out. The Phantom Thieves have a short meeting in LeBlanc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY its for once not late.

**6/8/17, After School, Gekkoukan High School**

The rest of the Newspaper Club had joined them in the hallway after the thump was heard.

The first thing that is heard after a moment of silence is a screech from Chie. “Is he dead?” She walks up to the body of Yusuke and hesitantly pokes him with her foot.

Yukiko walks up behind Chie. “I think he just fainted,” Yukiko says.  

Yusuke mumbles abruptly from the floorboards, “I am simply just lightheaded. I just fell on the floor. I will be back up shortly.” Yusuke attempts to get up by having his arms prop him up but his arms wobbled and he fell right back into the floor.

“I don't know about all of you, but I'm pretty sure that it's not normal for someone to faceplant into the floor in the middle of the hallway,” Yosuke remarks.

Kanji walks up to Yusuke. “I'm takin’ this guy to the infirmary.” He grabs Yusuke's body lifts him up to hold him bridal style, and walks towards the nurse's office. The Investigation Team follows as Yusuke protests to no avail of getting out.

 

* * *

  

 **After School, Nurse's Office**  

The last thing that Yusuke wanted to do was to be in the nurse's office when he could be creating beauty. Yusuke was plopped down onto the bed and saw white and saw a saw someone that was aesthetically pleasing to him at all. Bowl cuts are not Yusuke's first choice of a haircut and the smell of steak coming off from the man was not helping the light headedness that Yusuke was currently feeling. 

The bowl cut teenager speaks, “Are you alright? Can you sit up?” 

Yusuke blinks, his eyes flicker across the room he was currently in. He sees familiar faces and only two that he knew, Naoto Shirogane and Kanji Tatsumi. Yusuke sits up and tries to get off of the bed, but immediately falls onto the floor.

A gruff voice speaks, presumably Kanji, “Hey don't try to get up right away. Ya’ just got hit by the floor.” Yusuke is grabbed by the shoulders and is helped up onto the bed.

“Are you gonna say something?” another voice asked. It was familiar but Yusuke's head was hurting too much to even bother to conclude who it was. Focusing on the floor made his head hurt a tiny bit less.

“Excuse me, but I need to check up on him,” the nurse says. 

Yusuke hears footsteps move away from him and a chair rolling. He looks up from the ground and sees the nurse in front of him. 

“Now I just need to check if you're feeling alright.” The nurse smiles at Yusuke and he is tempted to scowl. Sensei will scold him for being late.

The nurse checks Yusuke's head for any pain and asks him simple questions to make sure that he is in the proper condition. Once the checkup is done, Yusuke is ready to depart before any contact with another human being could prevent him for being anymore late.

“Excuse me miss, but I really must be going.” Yusuke manages to stand up and stumble out of the office. The protests coming from the room are brushed off by him.  

Yusuke hears multiple footsteps come up from behind him. He turns around and sees the same people from the nurse's office but without the nurse.

A junior with orange hair steps up. “What's your problem man?” 

Yusuke's brows furrow. “I have no need for things like those. If they are no use to my art then I see no use for for them,” he grumbles. Yusuke tries to walk away but stumbles. He's caught by the bowl cut teenager.  

“You shouldn't brush off your health,” the teenager scolds. 

“I see no reason why you people would be concerned so I suggest you leave me alone. I had just told the nurse that I am fine so do not bother me. Besides, I certain that you're all apart of the Newspaper Club, you just want to talk to me to know about the Phantom Thieves.” Yusuke tries to shrug the teen off but the firm grip on Yusuke stays unmoved.  

“You almost fell face first into the ground, again!” a girl with pigtails exclaims. 

Yusuke just blinks and stares. His expression screams confusion and his body says that its hungry. Yes, his stomach just growled at the worst time possible. Perfect, excellent for health but bad for everything else to Yusuke.

Everyone looks at Yusuke's stomach and raises their eyebrows. They look at him with disappointed faces and Yusuke is grabbed by a girl with, for some reason, a bowl haircut that makes her look like a mushroom. 

“What are you- get your hands off me.” Yusuke is dragged away by the girl while her friends follow them. 

“Let me think about it.... Hmmm, nope.” She pops her lips together and drags Yusuke out of the school. “I am taking you to Hagakure, whether you like it or not.”

“You need not take me anywhere, I am going to go home.” Yusuke tries to wriggle out of her grip but she tightens her hold. 

“Ease up dude, Chie doesn't buy people food that often. Just accept it. Plus, you should really eat,” the boy with orange hair says.

Naoto walks next to Yusuke. She hands him a bag. “Here's your belongings.”

 

* * *

 

**4:00 pm, Chagall Cafe**

“You know when you said that we were going to get coffee, I thought you were kidding.” Yukari sips her coffee and looks at Minato.

“You seemed to actually want coffee so here we are.” Minato drinks his coffee and eats his pasty. Seemingly to distract himself from the faint pink on Yukari's face.

“You really are a flirt, you know that?” She sighs. His eyes widen a tiny bit. 

Minato chokes on his coffee. “I- what?” He puts down his cup of coffee and pastry. 

“You mean… you didn't notice?” She slowly puts down her cup. She takes a piece of his pastry and eats it as Minato continues to panic  

“No,” he whispers. 

“I mean, you always go out with girls and you never go out with guys. You even give girls gifts. I bet every girl you hang out with thinks that you're their boyfriend.”  

Minato's face is red. “Do I flirt with you?” he grumbles. 

Yukari's blush grows brighter. “I mean… yeah.” 

Minato's head is faces away from her and he rubs his bangs.  “Do you enjoy it?"

Yukari squeaks. “Ah! Why would you ask that?” His eyes peek out from behind his hair and looks at her. She quickly looks away from his gaze.  

“I… kind of,” she mumbles. “I always get compliments from guys… but it's different when you say it. Even if it's unintentional.” She smiles and rubs the back of her neck.

“So is this a date?”

“Huh?”

“Is this a date?” he repeats. 

“I uh, maybe?” she hesitantly responds. 

“Do you want it to be?” he asks.

“I don't know!” she squeaks. 

He stops looking away from her and faces her. “So you say that you like it when I compliment you but you don't want this to be a date?” 

“I mean yeah… you're nice, you helped me with my dad, and you're always there for me,” she rambles.

“Frankly, you're the perfect guy.” She smiles but it is short lived, and her eyes widen. “Wait, what are you making me say?”

“I wouldn't mind if it was,” he says. He rubs his bangs and smiles. 

Yukari's blush is is evident to everyone in the cafe. “I- I, fine it is a date!” she stammers. “A very peaceful and romantic date that we already do every other day,” she grumbles.  

He raises his eyebrow. “So are we dating?” 

“We’ll see where it goes. So do you like me?” she asks.

Minato starts blushing. “I… I don't know.”

Yukari giggles. “I don't know if I like you either but I wouldn't mind dating you.” 

“I feel something around you. Something that I've never felt before and it's confusing but I like it,” he explains. “Is that what liking someone feels like?” He looks at her with a confused expression.  

“I don't know. I've never dated anyone before.” 

“So I'm your first? It's an honor.” He grins at her.

“W-was that on purpose,” she stutters.  

“I don't know. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.” He grins even more when he sees her blush. 

“Geez, I'm beginning to regret this.” 

 

* * *

 

**Meanwhile, Hagakure**

Chie hums. “Mmhm, this is so good!” She continues to eat her noodles rapidly while Yusuke is slowly eating his ramen bowl. 

Kanji pats his hand on Yusuke's shoulder. “Hey Senpai, jus’ eat. We've all introduced ourselves already. No need t’ be shy.” 

Yusuke continues to eat slowly, but faster than before.  

Yu glances at Yusuke. “Is there something wrong?”  

Yusuke doesn't respond and continues to eat.

Naoto pulls out her notebook and a pencil. “While we’re here, do you mind answering our questions?”

Yusuke shakes his head. “I suppose since your friend has bought me food that I can answer a few questions.” Yusuke puts his chopsticks down and looks at the club with a firm gaze. “What is it that you want to know?”

 

* * *

 

 **4:30 pm, LeBlanc**   

“Why are we here?” Ryuji puts his finger in his ear and digs into the ear to get earwax out of his ear.

“Yusuke,” Makoto simply responds. 

“Oh yeah, he was acting real freaky today.” Ryuji shifts to sit up on his chair properly.  

“But why are talking about him? Shouldn't we just ask him?” Haru asks.

“We can't,” Futaba says. She leans her head back and rocks her chair. “He’s gonna ignore us.” 

“Any ideas to what's wrong?” Akira asks. His glasses glint and he crosses his arms. Akira's eyebrows are furrowed and he's leaning against the counter. Worry is written all over him and the tension in the cafe leaves only Morgana's meows and the sipping of coffee heard throughout the cafe.

"Maybe Madarame is havin’ him do somethin’. Yusuke always does crazy stuff for art, maybe this is the same thing,” Ryuji says. 

“I don't think Madarame would want Yusuke to not eat,” Haru mentions.

“Or Yusuke is doing it without him knowing.” Makoto frowns at her own statement. 

Futaba stops rocking her chair. She looks down and frowns. “Would Inari do that?” her voice is low and she grips her chair. 

“We need to find out somehow,” Akira announces.  

“I agree but how?” Ryuji asks. 

“Perhaps we can ask Madarame,” Makoto suggests. 

“Maybe,” Haru mumbles.

“Ok, so we're going to start with Madarame,” Akira affirms. Everyone nods at him.

“Let's start the operation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been having a rough time lately so I wrote this instead of doing homework lol. I promise I'll finish my homework.


	7. Operation Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation of each group starts with a bit of romance on the side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ughdingkdk I forgot to write these past two weeks because of school. I made this chapter twice as long to compensate.

**6/8/17, 4:02 pm, Hagakure**

Naoto coughs, obviously caught off guard by Yusuke's intense gaze. “First of all, how did you become a part of the Phantom Thieves?”

Yusuke purses his lips. “Well for starters, I had met them when I wanted Ann-san to model a nude for me.”

“Wait, what! Y-you saw Takamaki-san naked?” Yosuke's eyes widen and he leans forward. “W-what did she… you know.”

Chie smacks Yosuke at the back of his head. “Ew, pervert.”

Yusuke continues, “That, of course, did not happen because Akira-kun and Ryuji-kun did not approve of her modeling for me,” Yusuke pauses to drink water. “Then we started to run into each other at school and they had asked me to hang out with them and I complied. Ever since then, we've been friends.”

Naoto writes down notes in the notepad. “I see.”

Yu folds his hands on top of the table. He makes a look, a look he always uses when he wants to know the troubles of another. A double-eged sword it was for him to have. A great gamble, and yet he always bets and wins. “What is your relationship with Madarame?” 

Yusuke makes a sharp inhale. “Madarame is simply… my mentor,” Yusuke hesitates and he bites his lips. “He took me in when I was about 3 years old and he had taught me art… when he saw that I had an interest in it.”

Naoto looks at Yu, she mouths, “Something must've happened.” Yu nods in agreement.

Yusuke tips his head down. His hair covers half of his face. “I'm sorry but I must be going, Sensei must be worried. Thank you for the food.” Yusuke hastily grabs his belongings and heads out the door.

The group is left in silence.

Teddie frowns, making a somber expression. “I think it's the least to say that something is beary wrong.”

The group mumbles things incoherent but it is understood that they all agree with Teddie. Regrettably so, and yet they need to find out why that is.

Yukiko starts to speak, “So shall we go to Madarame's house?”

“Huh?” Kanji grunts. Everyone snaps up and looks at Yukiko.

“That's a fantastic idea Yukiko-san,” Naoto replies. “However, we cannot just enter the household without knowing where it is and he does not know who he is.”

Yu grins. His optimism seems to return again. “Why don't we just follow the Phantom Thieves?”

Chie's eyebrows raise. “Excuse me, what?”

Rise pops up, her smile bright and yet her eyes say otherwise. “Oh since they might've noticed then they might go the same time we are!”

“Woah, Rise since when did you get all smart,” Yosuke remarks. “I mean, your test scores say otherw- ow! Chie!”

Chie waves her hands in front of her and she shakes her head. “That wasn't me!”

Rise giggles. “Sorry, Senpai, but Naoto's been helping me catch onto things faster.” She sticks her tongue out and makes a peace sign.

“Rise-san and Yukiko-san do have a point,” Naoto mentions. “It is highly likely that they have noticed Kitagawa-san's decline in health. If we see them travel in a group without Kitagawa-san then we should follow them. Does everyone understand?”

Everyone nods.

* * *

   
**Yusuke Kitagawa**

**6/9/17, 3:00 pm**

**AK:**  hey can you take Mona to LeBlanc for me today?

 **AK:** I gotta go get meds for him just in case he's really sick

 **YK:** Of course. I'll come over to your class right now.

 **AK:**  thank

 

* * *

 

**3:40 pm, Madarame’s Shack**

When the final bell rang, the Thieves set out to the shack of Madarame. Planning had been swiftly done the day before; Makoto and Akira work fast. They had stopped a few blocks before they had arrived at their destination to review their plan.

“So what’s the plan?” Ryuji asks with a giant grin on his face. His leg bounces up an down and he scratches his head.

Makoto stares at him and sighs. “You seem a little too eager to do this.”

Ryuji jumps back and his eyes and mouth go wide. “Aw, come on! Give me a break! It’s not everyday we get to do somethin’ like this,” he replies.

“He’s probably excited that we get to do something ‘dangerous’,” Ann remarks.

“We’re doing this for Yusuke. If we find anything suspicious then we’ll need to investigate further,” Akira explains.

“Suspicious? What exactly do you mean?” Haru asks.

“Stuff like bongs and dil-” Futaba's answer gets cut off when she notices the stern stare that Akira has locked onto her.

“Sorry... it's just that this is just kinda serious right now. We don’t know what’s wrong with Yusuke so we’re here to find out.” Akira rubs his bangs and his eyes trail down into the ground.

Futaba nudges Akira and grins when he looks back at her. “C’mon, we’ll find out. We don’t know for sure if something is entirely wrong.”

“But what if something is wrong, and we didn’t notice this entire time,” Akira protests. “What if Yu-” Ann shushes him before he could say anymore. 

“If it is, then we’ll solve it together. Like we’ve always done.” She smiles at him. Reassuring and yet not entirely convincing to any of them. None of them are sure what's wrong, and there's this nuance in the air if they want to find out or not. 

Ryuji puts his arm around Akira’s neck. “It’s gonna be alright man. We took down Kamoshida, we can help our pretty boy.”

Akira smiles at Ryuji. Wistfully he says, “Yeah, I guess you’re right."

“Yup, I’m a genius, right?” Ryuji grins at Akira.

Ann snickers. “Yeah, as smart as a goldfish,” she comments.

“Hey!”

“Can we please get back on track?” Makoto asks. Before anyone can actually say anything, she continues, “And Haru, by suspicious I suspect it would be anything that has to do with an unhealthy living style. For example, no food or maybe Madarame avoiding some of our questions.”

Haru nods. “Also, should we really be doing this without Yusuke's approval? This is about him, maybe we could ask him directly." 

“The most probable outcome would be that Yusuke avoids the question and pushes us away,” Makoto illustrates.

“Yep, well anyways, basically our plan is to go in and ask about how Yusuke is doing and how's Madarame's career going,” Futaba explains.

“Sounds good. Let's get crackin'” Ryuji announces.

 

* * *

 

**Inside Madarame’s Shack**

“What brings Yusuke’s friends over to our humble home?” Madarame asks. He pours tea into several ceramic cups to give to the seated teenagers. He places the cups onto a tray and heads over to the seated teenagers. He places down a cup of tea for each of them and takes a seat down himself.

From what Ann could tell, the “humble abode" of Madarame is neat to an extent, at least to the point to where Makoto doesn't have an aneurysm. It's messy but is functional to not make Makoto tear her eyes out. There's papers scattered on the tables and notebooks laying around. What Ann could see in the kitchen from her seated position, there were proper dishes and utensils. The fridge seems functional as well.

And yet Yusuke has never invited anyone to his house, despite it's functionality. Yusuke has never been a mystery so to speak. An enigma when strangers but a an eccentric young man when close. Maybe this is when they would find the answer to the mystery. 

Makoto grabs the teacup and sips her drink. “We've been noticing that Yusuke-kun has been acting ‘strangely’ recently. We were wondering why that is.”

Madarame's facial expression turns perplexed. “Strangely? How so?"

Across the table is where he is and yet Akira barely leans over the table, despite the most likely, damaged hearing of Madarame. “He hasn't been eating recently."

Madarame puts his chin on his hand and hums. “I don't believe so he's been continuing his art career as usual.”

“But has he been eating?” Haru asks. Her voice pierced throughout the room and startled everyone. Her sweet voice is gone.

“...I don't know." The man pauses. Far too long for the teenagers' liking. "I arrive at home too late to find out.”

Ann's face scrunches up at that statement. What exactly do you mean, old man?

“What exactly do you mean?” Ann asks.

Madarame pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “Recently, I've been coming home very late… For that reason I have no way of knowing if my dear pupil has been eating properly.”

Bull-fucking-shit, you're here right now. Ann could feel her face hotten instantly. She was getting more impatient by the second. Something was up but they can't find out right now.

“What do ya’ mean you've been coming home late?” Ryuji asks.

Madarame's face darkens. A glare is quickly targeted at Ryuji. “None of your concern.” The voice was firm and it was obvious that he had wanted them out of the house.

“Thank you for your time, Madarame-san. My friends and I must be going,” Haru suddenly says in a sweet voice, in a voice friendlier than usual. Her smile at the old man is wider than what Haru usually does.

Quickly, Haru brushes off her clothes and walks out. A few seconds pass by and the others realized that they should be going.

When Ann stands up to go, she gazes to the sink inside the kitchen. No dishes inside to be washed.

 

* * *

 

**Outside**

“So that clearly went well,” Akira mumbles. The sarcasm was obvious. Everyone is still been startled up by the complete 180 in attitude Madarame had.

Ann leans her head back up to the sky. “You said it,” she groans.

“He's clearly hiding something. We just need to find out what,” Makoto states.

“But how?” asks Ryuji.

Futaba forms a little grin on her face. “Maybe we can tap his phone,” she casually says.

“I think we should find out more before we get into any unorthodox methods,” Haru whispers. Futaba's grin drops.

Makoto's chin remains on her hand. Her eyebrows are furrowed and her lips are pursed. She's thinking, and yet of what? “Before we leave, what did you all notice?” Makoto asks.

“There were no dishes in the sink,” Ann points out.

Ryuji scratches his head. “It could jus’ mean that Yusuke washes them.”

Futaba looks down into the ground. “I didn't see any food wrappers in the trash though,” she murmurs.

“Whatever is happening, we need to find out,” Akira affirms. His voice is louder than his normal, timid one. This tone had shown aggression.

 

* * *

 

**Rise Kujikawa**

**6/9/17, 3:05 pm**

**RK** : pls tell the others that I cant be there for the inves

 **RK:** my grandma asked me to help w shop

 **NS:** I WILL DO SO, THANK YOU FOR NOTIFYING ME.

* * *

  
**4:12 pm**

The Investigation Team has their own mission. However, their planning could use some work. All their heads are peaked out from behind the wall but their bodies are in a predicament.

Top to bottom: Kanji, Yu, Teddie, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and Naoto.

“Ow! Stop pushing me Yosuke!” Chie whispers. Chie is being pushed by Yosuke's body. If shoved out even further, their cover will be blown.

“C'mon, lemme see! I need to get a good look.” Yosuke stretches his neck out to the side to get a better view at the group conversing.

“All of you are so bad at this,” Naoto mumbles from under Yukiko.

“Ace detective knows best,” Kanji says. None could see the red tint that erupted onto Naoto's face. 

“This is beary uncomfortable!” Teddie whines. His body is being sandwiched between Yu and Yosuke.

Yu agrees, “Yes, it beary is.”

Yukiko snickers. “These bear puns are getting to be unbearable.” Her laughter makes her lose her balance and she falls on Naoto.

The entire stack of people collapses and, unfortunately, the smallest one there is at the bottom of the stack.

Naoto's arms flail from under the stack of people and her screams for help are being muffled by the ground that her face is planted onto. Her hat fell off and her arms try to reach it but to no avail.

Footsteps are heard. “What are you guys doing?” the mysterious footsteps turned out to be Rise. Rise picks up Naoto's hat.

The team manages to scramble away off of Naoto. Naoto manages to sit up. Rise squats down and plops the hat on Naoto's head. Naoto lifts her head up and sees Rise. Naoto's eyes instantly avert from Rise. She tips her hat down to cover her eyes.

“Hm? Naoto-kun, what's wrong?” Rise tries to get a good luck at Naoto's face but everytime she does so Naoto’s face goes in the opposite direction Rise is in. Rise could barely see the red plastered on Naoto's face.

“R-rise-san, your appearance,” Naoto stutters. Her eyes peek out from under her hat and her eyes trail over Rise's body but immediately avert away from her again after.

Rise looks down at herself. _Oh._ Rise figured that Naoto hasn't really seen her like this before. Best friends or not, Naoto had never met up with Rise when she was wearing something like this. Rise had no sleeves and her shorts were short. Her chest was a bit more exposed than usual but her breasts were covered. 

“What's wrong, Naoto-kun?” she says teasingly. “Are you falling for me?” Rise lifts Naoto's hat up to make the girl look at her. Naoto looks up and Rise makes a smirk at her and winks. Naoto's face quickly forms a blush. She pulls her hat down and shuffles away from Rise.

“N-no! That's… your appearance is very, um.…” Naoto turns her head away.

Rise giggles. “These are new clothes. I'd figure that I'd wear them on this ‘special occasion’.”

Naoto finally looks directly at Rise. “You should've worn something more appropriate. The outfit may get us caught,” she scolds. Her expression and voice may have been stern but the color of her face had said otherwise.

Rise giggles again. “Don't worry, I'm not gonna blow this.” She puts a finger in her lips and winks at Naoto. Naoto smiles and rolls her eyes.

The boys ogled at Rise while she was taking to Naoto. Yu was at least chivalrous and covered Teddie's eyes and looked away himself.

Yosuke whistles. “Damn Rise-chan, your outfit is- ugh!” Yosuke groans because of Chie pinching his ribs.

Chie squeezes a bit harder. “Ugh, that's gross! Let's just move on.” She lets go and walks to the corner to check if the Phantom Thieves are gone. “Guys, they're gone!”

“Well, that's just great!” Yosuke flails his arms up.

“Can we just ask Madarame-san some questions?” Rise asks.

“No,” Naoto replies. “He probably let them in because they're friends with Kitagawa-san.”

“We can try to go find the Phantom Thieves today to ask them some questions,” Yukiko suggests.

“No, we’ll have to find them another day,” Yu says.

“Alright, ok les’ do that,” Kanji says.

“In the meantime, we can do some more research about them now.”

 

* * *

 

**4:00 pm, Beef Bowl Shop**

“Why are we eating this shit?” Shinjiro complains.

“Befause if's Aki-smpei’s tun’ t’ pic,” Hamuko responds while chewing her food.

“What did I tell you about speaking while eating?” Minato scolds his sister. Hamuko pouts and keeps shoving the food in her mouth.

Junpei groans. “Man, when you said pay you back, I forgot that you mean that I have to pay for your monstrous appetite the next time we eat.”

“You did ask for it,” Yukari teases.

“Hey!”

“God, Aki, why is that shit in your food?” Shinjiro scowls as he looks into Akihiko's bowl and sees protein powder covering the meat.

“It helps me with my training,” Akihiko simply explains. Yes, like putting protein powder in your food is completely normal, as if the chef of the group would ever believe that.

“Yeah but that… god you've been doing this for years and yet I can never get used to that.” The scowl disappears and Shinjiro starts eating his food again.

“Too bad Mitsuru-senpai can't be here to scold you, Akihiko-senpai,” Minato mentions.

Akihiko stops eating and looks at Minato with an incredulous look. “Why would she do that?” he asks.

“If I remember correctly, Mitsuru-san has always complained about your eating habits for the past years,” Aigis explains.

Shinjiro smiles. “Man, can't believe that your ass hasn't been bitten by her, Aki.”

“Watch out, Senpai,” Junpei says in a weary voice. “She's like a leopard, while you're a wolf. Rawr.”

Akihiko doesn't even respond, he's already gone back to destroying his food.

“What exactly was the point of that?” Yukari says.

Fuuka chuckles. “Junpei-kun is trying to say that Akihiko-senpai can't escape from Mitsuru-senpai.”

Junpei grins. He wraps an arm around Fuuka's shoulders. “See, Fuuka-chan gets it.”

Yukari rolls her eyes and goes back to eating her food.

“Yukari,” Minato mumbles. She turns her head to him and he wipes rice off of the corner of her mouth. “You had something right there.”

Yukari blushes. “Ah, um… gee I could've gotten it myself!”

Minato only smiles and goes back to eating.

Hamuko stops eating. “Woah, when did this happen?”

Junpei leans out to look at Minato. “Yeah dude, I thought bros told each other everything!”

Yukari furrows her eyebrows. “What exactly are you two talking about?”

“The fact that you and Minato-san have reached a romantic status in your relationship,” Aigis says a little too bluntly.

Minato chokes on his food and Yukari goes beet red. She hides her face in her hands and leans into Minato's shoulder.

“Oh so they were right,” Fuuka teases.

Shinjiro smirks. “I gotta say, I was expecting this.”

Akihiko looks up from his bowl. “Wait, what happened?”

Hamuko smirks and points a finger at her brother. “I knew it from day one! It's fate for you two.”

Akihiko's eyes go back and forth between Minato and Yukari, and Hamuko. “Oh… so you two finally got together.”

“What do you mean ‘finally’?” Yukari squeaks.

“Well for starters,” Akihiko says. “You two had always hung out in high school. It's only natural for a relationship to develop because of the way you two always acted around each other.”

Minato rubs Yukari's head. “What do you mean by acting?” he asks. 

Junpei smirks. “Well… it's time for ‘Story time with Junpei Iori’!” he proclaims. “In high school, Yukari never really hung out with guys," he pauses and points a thumb at himself. "Except yours truly. And then when you came along and after Yakushima she was always all blushy around you.”

Yukari backs away from Minato and looks down at her lap. Her face looks like it's about to explode.

Aigis chimes in, “Additionally, Minato-san was always worried for Yukari-san. Judging by these actions, we can conclude that the both of you had romantic feelings for each other.”

Minato starts rubbing his bangs. He looks to the side and starts forming a tiny smile.

“Aww, I'm sure that the both of you will make a great couple.” Fuuka gives a thumbs up to Yukari.

“Thanks,” they couple mumbles. Minato puts his hand over Yukari's.

 

* * *

 

**Shinjiro Aragaki, Fuuka Yamagishi, and Aigis Arisato**

**6/9/17, 4:07 pm**

**SA:** great now we have to suffer more by waiting for Aki and Ham

 **FY:** let's give them some time (＾▽＾)

 **JI:** i wanna gf (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

 **AA:** I am sure you will get one one day, Junpei-san. Despite your messy living habits.

 **JI:** HEY

 **FY:** roasted (〜￣△￣)〜

 **JI:** yall are so mean ╥﹏╥

 **JI:** imma get a gf one day and well see whos laughing then

 **SA:** no one will be crazy enough to date you

 **JI:** (T＿T)

 

* * *

  

**4:30 pm, Paulownia Mall**

“So… what did you guys find out?” Rise asks.

“Uhh, we foun’ out nothin’,” Kanji grumbles.

Yu huffs. “Today, we had little progress.”

“Better than not trying, right?” Yukiko says positively. 

Yosuke scratches his head and yawns. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Let's stop here then,” Naoto announces.

“If it helps, I heard them saying that Madarame-san is hiding something,” Teddie mentions.

Yosuke goes up to Teddie and pinches his cheeks. “Why didn't you say anything earlier?”

“Because I thought it wasn't beary important!” Teddie responds.

“Well, what does that mean for us?” Chie asks. “I mean this is about why the Phantom Thieves are so popular and ‘the truth behind the Phantom Thieves’, why should we worry about this?”

Yu speaks, “We should cover this as well. The entire school has been talking about rumors about Kitagawa-san's health and teacher.”

“So expose the rumor and everyone learns the truth and we get more popular,” Kanji concludes. “I like it.”

“That is the reason why started this, right?” Rise says.

“And so that Yosuke-kun would stop giving them the death glare,” Yukiko remarks. Yosuke makes an offended expression and Yukiko remains oblivious to it.

Yu yawns. “Anyways, let's go home. I need to go watch Nanako.”

Yosuke frowns. “Hey, dude,” he whispers to Yu. “Are you okay? Last time… you weren't doing so good.”

Yu's eyes widen. “I… yeah I'm fine. I was just lightheaded.”

Yosuke walks closer to Yu. “Lightheaded isn't the word I'd use to describe a panic attack man,” Yosuke's frown disappears. “Just… feel free to tell me what's wrong man.” Yosuke puts a hand on Yu's shoulder and rubs it.

Yu smiles at him. “Thanks man.”

Yosuke's eyes brighten. “No prob, now let's get you home. I'm sure that Nanako-chan misses you.”

 

* * *

 

**4:20 pm, Minatodai Dorm Lounge**

Mitsuru sips her tea from the Victorian teacup. “I hear that the ‘shadows’ are on the move. Any reason to why that is?”

Officer Kurosawa makes a sour frown. “Unfortunately, nothing we can prove. The station may not even approve the warrant for investigation to find out.”

Mitsuru places her teacup down. “Even though there has been an obvious increase in crime recently?”

Kurosawa can only nod to respond.

Mitsuru clicks her tongue. “I believe that I may have to take matters into my own hands.”

Officer Kurosawa’s eyes perk up. “I'll help by reporting what I see on patrol.”

“Thank you for your kindness. I apologize if this causes you any inconvenience."

“Just doing my job. I need to keep this city safe after all.”

Mitsuru smiles. “On another note, have you seen Ken Amada anywhere on your nightly patrols?”

His eyebrows raise. “No, not yet. Any particular reason why you would need to know this? He is a teenager who could be meeting up with his friends.”

Mitsuru's lips purse. “He's never done this before and the increased crime rate does not help my worries.”

“I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that also.” he tips his hat. “I've known the kid for a long time, I don't want him to get in any trouble.”

Mitsuru bows. “Thank you, again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rise's outfit is kinda like her outfit in the P4G epilogue. Romance is blooming, kinda, it's kinda gonna be slowburn.


	8. Operation in Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which plans start to unfold and go into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School was kicking my ass so I had yo take a break and focus on my school work sorry. I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

**6/10/17, After School, Class 2-3**

“You want me to what?” Yusuke asks.

Ryuji presses his hands together and lowers his head. “Please, dude! This would mean a lot to me,” he begs.

Yusuke curls his fingers around his chin. “I suppose that I can. However, my condition is that you take me out to eat ramen.”

“Consider it done, bro! Geez, my ma' is gonna be so happy!” Ryuji grabs his bag and runs out of the classroom. 

Yusuke sighs. He twirls his pencil between his fingertips, lost in thought. “Now what am I going to do….”

 

* * *

 

**After School, Rooftop**

The door bursts open, and Ryuji runs through. “Kay, guys, I did it.” He plops down onto the floor. “Agh, now what's the plan?”

Makoto closes her eyes and makes a smirk, a devious one. Now, what has she planned this time? “Now all we have to do is play the waiting game.”

“What do you mean?” Ann asks.

Makoto stands up and brushes off the dirt on her skirt. “As we've seen in the past. Yusuke has a deadline to make new art pieces for Madarame.”

“Uh huh.” They all nod.

“And everytime, wasn't it odd for any of you? How… panicked he seemed?”

“Wait, ya’ actually noticed somethin’ like that?” Ryuji spouts out which he immediately regrets when Ann pinches his cheek.

Makoto only stares and coughs. “No, it wasn't me, it was Akira.”

“He's always acted,"Akira's leg taps on the ground. His bangs remain untouched but the uneasiness in his eyes shine through his glasses. "afraid or worried. I asked Makoto to tell you to do this because I needed to figure something out.”

“What is that then?” Haru asks.

“Madarame takes in disciples and yet only Yusuke remains as one. Why is that?” Akira paces in a circle and only more tension builds up in the atmosphere. 

“Well…” Futaba starts. “I can always look stuff up on the net and see what I can find. Ann, you gotta help me.”

Ann chokes on her juicebox. “Huh?! How?” 

“You need to strip for me,” Futaba says a little too casually for anyone's liking.

Akira's face shifts from worry to his usual smirk. “Ann, you must strip for him,” he adds on.

“Oh ho ho, so Joker knows what I'm planning.” Futaba pushes up her glasses deviously. Akira responds by pushing up his own.

“What the hell are you guys thinking about?” Ann asks desperately. “My dignity is on the line based on what you guys are saying.”

“What dignity?” Ryuji cackles under his hand until he got pinched again. “Agh! Owww….” 

“You gotta be our rat,” Futaba says with a cheeky smirk. “I don't think that Madarame would let us in after that incident but….”

“Oh!” Haru gasps with sudden realization. “So you want to send Ann-chan to be a nude model for Yusuke-kun so that she can see more of Madarame’s shack?”

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!” Futaba shoots up and points at Haru proudly. 

“I refuse!” Ann protests.

“Well…. It is what Yusuke wanted in the firs’ place so why not?” Ryuji chuckles uneasily as Ann glares at him.

“Please tell me that that is going to be our _last_ option,” Makoto says as she buries her face into her palms.

“Makoto, you too!?” Ann squeals in full offense.

“No worries, Ann could just go in and model for Yusuke regularly like she always does,” Futaba says reassuringly. 

“But we do that outside of his house,” Ann points out.

“So? Just do it,” Futaba responds. Ann only groans and bashes her head into her bag. Morgana hops out of Akira's bag and sits on Ann's lap which only adds to her pity.

“I hate all of you….” Ann grumbles. “I'll do the modeling but the offering to be nude will be our last option, got it?!”

“Yeah,” they all say in response.

“We need you to start modeling for him as soon as you can. You may be a part of the piece Ryuji just asked for or you'll be in a separate one. Whatever you do, try to delay Yusuke and look around and ask questions,” Akira explains, back to his serious and uneasy nature.

“Got it,” Ann responds.

 

* * *

 

**6/11/17, After School, Student Council Room**

Makoto sighs as she taps the stack of papers on the table to get them straightened. The door creaks open. Ken Amada steps in and closes the door behind him.

He looks at her and gives a small smile. “I see that you're hard working as always, Makoto-san.” He walks up to the table and sits down. Taking a stack of paper from the basket, he starts filling out forms for the school.

The normal routine, as so it would seem, if not for the humongous bags under his eyes. That so happen to be so big that Makoto could see them clearly. Not only that, but his movement is sluggish and his speech pattern was slow. Recent events had somehow led to the socially inept Student Council President to notice this dilemma. 

Makoto looks up at Ken. “Ken-kun, have you been sleeping well lately?” His head snaps up and his eyelids struggle to stay open, they slowly close and snap open several times.

“I…” he yawns. “It's only been like this… for this week.” His head slowly bends down. “I should be able to… go to sleep earlier next week.” His head shoots up and he rubs his eyes. He tries to suppress a yawn but Makoto could clearly see the state he is in. 

“Ken-kun, is something happening in your personal life?” Makoto asks. 

“It's nothing,” he brushes off. 

Makoto makes a stern gaze at him. “If it was nothing, then you wouldn't be ready to fall face first into the floor,” she merely says. “Now, I request that you go home today, I am able to do this all by-”

“I’m fine.” he calmly states in protest.

Makoto sighs. “If you keep this behavior up it'll only be an inconvenience to the council's proficiency.” She gets up and takes his pencil and papers.

“Hey!”

She only looks down at him and sits down in her seat. “Now go, I'm sure that your friends are worried.”

Ken’s eyebrows crinkle. “Friends?” 

“Minato-san is worried about you, you know. Although I trust that you can take care of yourself, if your friends are worried then it should be a matter that needs to be taken care of swiftly.”

“I... I understand,” he says.

“Great, now please get going. It's a distraction for you to be here right now,” she says.

“Ah right!” He grabs his bag and heads out the door.

The door clicks. His footsteps are heard but slowly fade away moments later. A moment of silence, with the exception of Makoto writing. She turns to the cabinet. “Did you get all of that?” she asks.

“Yup,” a voice responds. The cabinet cracks open, revealing Futaba with her phone inside. “I recorded everything.”

“Great. Thank you. Now… can you please get out of the cabinet? You're going to hurt yourself.” Makoto looks at Futaba and Futaba only crosses her arms and looks away from Makoto.

“No,” the smaller girl stubbornly responds. “It's comfy.”

Makoto sighs. “Then it looks like I have no choice.” She forms a tiny smile on her face and leaves her seat. She walks towards the cabinet and bends down and grabs Futaba's phone.

“Hey!” Futaba protests. She gets out of the cabinet, or at least tried to. The sudden movement of her body made her get caught between the narrow doorway of the cabinet. She flails her arms up and down, and then they fall, along with her head. “...A little help please?”

Makoto chuckles. “Hmph, fine.” She grabs Futaba's hips and turns her sideways. Then she grabs Futaba's arm to pull her out. Only for Futaba's shoulders to be caught again. Ouch, that was loud.

“Ouch… can't you be a little more gentle?” Futaba says bashfully. She up puts a closed hand up to her cheek and looks up at Makoto with pouty eyes and a frown.

Makoto is not amused. “Then perish,” she says, breaking the ominous silence, and then slams the door on Futaba. Leaving the small girl inside with her witty comments echoing inside the cabinet and to become muffled to Makoto.

“Hey!” she yells from inside the cabinet. “That is very rude.” 

“I know what you're about to say,” Makoto replies dryly. “You're going to make fun of me for-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, at much as I am, nyehehe.. trying… to not… GHCK, laugh… HAHAHA. I'm gonna… hehehe… ask how you know....”

“Well that's very reassuring.”

“Hey! GHEHEEHhehehe…. At least give me parti-CI.. srnk… pation points. And let me laugh.. hehehehe… for a second.” Futaba coughs and then lets out the most loud and teasing cackle. This laughs for a few seconds and then stops. Futaba coughs again. “Okay, now you can answer my question.”

Well… everyone always references them so I figured that…” She pauses. “I could learn them in order to,” She makes  air quotes with her fingers. “‘keep up’ as they say.”

Futaba grins, or at least that's what Makoto imagines her doing. “Well… if you want to learn I suggest you learn from an expert.” She points her thumb at herself, which is what Makoto assumes after she hears a thump and a tiny ‘ow’ sound from inside. “After all, I am well versed in the world of the ‘in-ter-net’ so might as well.”

Makoto chuckles as she opens the door. She puts out her hand to Futaba. “Hmm, I may take you up on that offer.” 

 

* * *

 

 **Minato Arisato**  

**6/11/17, 3:00 pm**

 

 **MA:** Hey it's Minato, the guy you met the other day.

 **YN:** Ah yeah I saved your contact info when you gave it to me.

 **YN:** Is this about the clothes? If so, then you don't have to pay me back.

 **MA:** Meet me at the mall today at 4, I'll be waiting by the fountain. 

 **YN:** You don't have to!!

 **YN:** Arisato-san???

 **YN:** ?????

 

* * *

 

**4:00 pm, Paulowina Mall**

Yu opens the doors and sees that Minato is there standing by the fountain, seemingly disinterested in his surroundings shown by the quick typing on his phone. His hands in his pockets and his ears covered with headphones. Yu walks up to him.

“Hello, it's been a while,” he says, barely. He stands up straight to catch his breath. 

“Yeah it has. Here.” He reaches into his pocket and grabs a stack of money and puts it out to Yu.

“Huh? Really?” he says, dumbfounded. He pushes the money away from him. “Really it's fine."

“Just take it, if you don't want it donate it.” Minato waves the money in front of Yu before tossing it to him. “I'm not accepting it back. I have to get going.” Minato walks away towards the entrance of the mall.

Before Yu could say more it was too late. Minato had exited out of the mall. Yu looks at the stack of money in his hands and sighs. “Now what am I going to do with this.”

“Hey Senpai!” a voice calls out to him. Yu turns and sees Rise walk over to him. “Whatcha doin’ out here? I thought you'd be busy today.” Her eyes trail down to his hands. And her eyes widen. “Whoa, where did you get all this?”

“An acquaintance,” he says as he looks over to the entrance one more time. “I don't know what to do with this….”

“Well… why did they give it to you?” She asks in a seemingly innocent tone. Her head arches up as she looks at him with a cheeky grin. “Why don't you just use it for the reason they gave it to you?”

Yu's eyes brighten. “Oh! I could probably use this to give Nanako a gift!” He makes a grin. Rise could've sworn that he was bouncing up and down like a little school girl on Christmas morning.

“Why don't I tag along? I have nothing to do anyways.” Rise leans back and sees Yu's eyes avert from her. 

“...Yeah, that's a good idea. She misses you a lot,” he says reluctantly. 

 

* * *

 

**4:30 pm, Minatodai Dormitory**

“Well, I'm here. Now, what's the problem?” Minato grabs his teacup and waits for his senior to respond. Hesitation emanating from her. She stares into her teacup. Hesitation, perhaps?

“They're on the move,” she simply responds. She places down her teacup gently, a fierce contrast between the look formed on her junior's face. His expression remains blank but his eyes sharpen.

“How long?” he asks. His eyes loom into the table. Not again, he thinks. 

“We've detected movement of their operations for about a month now. But we have just gotten definitive confirmation that it is them. Now all we need to do is prepare.” She makes a sly smirk at him. “We want you to lead the operation again.”

His head shoots up. “Me?” he asks perplexedly. Athletic and smart as he may be, his ability to be socially adept was nonexistent. No motivation to talk to people or even to get out of bed.

“It was successful last time,” she adds. Great, reasons for him to do work. Part of him wants to refuse but the other part of him knows that he'll take up the position anyways because he doesn't trust his sister to lead, or stay safe, or be quiet, or- the list is too long. Forget it.

“That was only because Hamuko was there to help,” he protests. “I'm not suited to be a leader.” He huffs. He starts to tug on his bangs. “Deja vu,” he says as he makes a small smile.

She chuckles. “Indeed. Which is why we need you to lead. The police refuses to help so now we need to take matters into our own hands. We must deal with this without Ken-kun knowing.” 

Minato sighs. “I guess…. Does everyone else know yet?”

Mitsuru only gives him another chuckle. “I propose that you do tell them.… After all, you are our leader.” She once again obtains her teacup between her fingers.

Minato groans. “Great… Now all I have to do is plan operations, just like old times.”

Mitsuru sips her tea. “You make it seem like it's been so long since the last time. It's only been 5 years.”

Minato looks at her with a deadpan expression. “That's half a decade, Senpai,” he says bluntly. “We're all getting old. Then we find jobs and get marr-” he stops. 

Mitsuru smirks. “Hmm, marriage. Why the sudden halt? Is it perhaps related to the new relationship development between you and Yukari-san?”

“N-no.” Great job, A-plus lying, he thinks. Internal sarcasm towards himself happens more often than he’d like for it to.

“I do support it. Just don't let it go into your head.” She makes a wry smile. “Be sure to not embarrass her too much. You have a habit of saying things on your mind the instant they form. It'll make her die of embarrassment.” She laughs and places down her tea.

“Senpai….” He groans.

“I know, I know.” She pulls out a laptop from behind the chair she sits in. “Now, we need to start planning. ‘Just like old times’, as you say.”

 

* * *

 

**5:00 pm, LeBlanc**

“Ah, you're back,” Sojiro says as Akira walks through the doors of the cafe. “Help me out will ya’. I'm getting a bit old, can't always handle the shop by myself all the time.”

“Yeah, hold on. Let me get changed,” Akira responds. He walks up the stairs and plops himself onto his bed. An old, creaky, dusty bed. Truly this is the height of luxury; which is something he would say if he was high. 

Quickly, he slips out of his school uniform and into his regular clothing when working. He hurries downstairs and grabs the apron from behind the counter and ties it onto himself. 

There's only two customers in the shop and a comforting silence in the cafe. Sojiro and Akira remain in silent company and only utter a few words to each other for communication to get the shop in order. Then, the customers leave and only Akira and Sojiro remain. 

Sojiro leans on the counter and sighs. “You do know that you'll have to tell all of them someday, right?” Akira stops and Sojiro crosses his arms. “It's not fair to keep something as important as this from them.”

“I know…” he pauses. Hesitation, there's always that when this is brought up. “It's just difficult I guess. I don't really know how to bring it up.”

Sojiro sighs once again. “Just… make sure to keep your diary up to date, okay? I don't want you getting into any trouble.”

“I understand,” he mumbles. Even then, he could barely muster up the words, the courage, to tell and confess. Truly a fickle situation he was in, he's still not sure how long he was going to be able to keep this a secret. 

 

* * *

 

**5:10 pm, Tatsumi Hospital**

“Senpai….” Rise mutters under her breath. A sight no one expected or wanted to see, not in a million years. For the last year, the Investigation Team hadn't heard from Nanako nor has Yu mentioned her. Rise can figure out why now. The only question that remains in her head is why.

Nanako is sleeping on her hospital bed, peacefully. Her breathing is steady but Yu is still uneasy. He grabs ahold of her hand and places the bag of things that he bought for her on the nightstand next to her bed.

“I….” he starts. Rise could hear the whimpers he's holding back. “I didn't want you guys to worry… that's why I didn't tell you.” His head bows down, his forehead touches the edge of Nanako's bed.

“Senpai…” Rise repeats. She slowly walks up to Nanako. Rise could only look at her for a second until she had to turn away in fear of crying. She didn't plan to cry today but the tears welling up in her eyes say otherwise. “Is she….”

“She's been in here for about a few months. Uncle thought that was best for her.” Yu squeezes Nanako’s hand a bit tighter. “...Nanako, I brought Rise here. Wake up soon, okay? So that you can say hi to her,” Yu whispers to her gently. 

“Senpai… who else knows?” Rise asks softly, just in case Nanako woke up.

“Just you,” he answers. 

“Not even Yosuke-senpai?” she asks. Her hands squeeze momentarily.

“Nope,” he answers. 

“But wh-” she starts.

“Rise,” Yu says before she could say anymore. “Please don't tell anyone else about this,” he pleads.

“Why me, Senpai?” Rise mumbles. She can't help but shift awkwardly in the place she stands.

“Because I know that you're the only one who won't tell the others,” he says wistfully. “Naoto will find and pester Uncle. Yukiko might blurt it out to Chie and Chie and Teddie will do the same. Kanji will get angry and barge out…. And Yosuke would probably slap me.” He chuckles when he says that last part. 

Rise can only stay silent as Yu continues to talk.

“I'm sorry for putting this all on you. I know it's selfish of me for not letting you and everyone else visit when I want to look after her. I can't help but worry. Everyday at school and at home even as I'm sitting here, right next to her… I can't help but think, ‘is she going to be okay?’” Rise could see wet spots forming on the sheets of the bed. “I'm sorry for only telling you now but after Yosuke saw me… break down I thought that it was finally time to tell someone.”

Suddenly, the sheets of the bed start to move. Yu's head lifts up and Rise looks at Nanako. Nanako slowly opens her eyes and tries to sit up. Yu scooches over and helps her sit up. Nanako rubs her eyes and looks around the room, her eyes stop when she sees Rise.

“Rise-chan!” Nanako exclaims despite the tiredness in her voice. Nanako forms a giant grin. “You're here!”

Rise walks closer to Nanako and makes a reassuring smile. “Yep, I'm here. I'm sorry I couldn't visit earlier.”

Nanako grins back at her and shakes her head. “Mhm, I didn't want you to worry anyways ….but don't mind as long as you're here now!”

Rise's smile almost falters. “Oh, is that so….”

“A-anyways, Nanako. Rise-chan and I bought some gifts for you.” Yu grabs the bag and takes out the gifts for her.

Nanako grabs the things laid out on the bed for her. Her smile became even brighter than before. “Cool! A Junes uniform! And a new clothes! Thank you Big Bro! Rise-chan!”

Yu and Rise smile back at her. “Mhm, Rise-chan had picked all this out for you.” Yu pats Nanako's head.

“Make sure to get plenty of rest, okay?” Rise says.

“Mhm, got it!” Nanako responds.

 

* * *

 

**6:00 pm, Madarame’s Shack**

Yusuke opens the doors of the shack and quietly closes the door behind him on the way in. He notices that the lights are off, signifying that Madarame is not home yet, as usual. He sighs as he takes his shoes off and walks to his room.

His stomach growls once he sits down on his bed. He sighs once again and heads towards the kitchen and opens the refrigerator. There’s nothing besides some bean sprouts and alcohol.  

‘I don’t think I’m allowed to complain about this. At least there’s something to eat,’ he thinks.

Yusuke grabs the bean sprouts and washes them. He munches on them as he walks back into his room and closes his door. He lays down on his bed and can only think of what he should do about his deadlines. 

The feeling of hunger still crawl and crave on him. He tries to brush it all away by eating more bean sprouts. ‘If this is all I can get, then I have to deal with it myself,’ he thinks to fight these feelings off.

Yusuke sits up and gathers his supplies to start painting. He states at the blank canvas and stops to think what he should paint for Ryuji. He brings his hands up and keeps thinking. He looks around his room for anything that could bring something to his mind. 

‘What’s something that he likes? Perhaps something a bit rough and vulgar like he is. He once entered in his contact name on my phone as “Captain”... now I see.’ Yusuke makes a tiny smile as he figures out what to paint. 

Now he just needs to find money to go to the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to make more updates on my Twitter after this so stay tuned!! Now that school is over I can do a lot more things!!

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask in them comments.
> 
> If you liked this chapter please leave kudos and comments. Bookmarks are very much appreciated. 
> 
> You can find me @Purple_Minor on Tumblr.
> 
> Check my Twitter @splannin for consistent updates of my work.


End file.
